Scarlet Passion and a Wistful Stag
by Killashandria
Summary: It's Lily's 5th year at Hogwarts. Dark times are ahead & outside of the castle deaths are occuring as a new Dark Lord makes his presence known. How will this affect Lily & her friends? They are growing up & sometimes maturity takes a terrible toll.
1. Prologue

**The Beginning of Things**

A quiet country town. For the most part the village seems to be well to do. Well kept- houses with clean and tidy gardens. People passing between them sometimes smiling as they recognized other people also out and about early on this rather lovely day. The only sound permeating the air is the sound of the occasional lawn mower or car driving through. Further up the village however is a different scene. Here a house sits, squalor like, its windows dark and foreboding. An old car sits in its driveway looking as out of place in front of such a dark house as the house itself looks in the village. Suddenly the door opens and a young boy runs out. His hair is long and slightly greasy. He has a look of general unkempt about him, wearing a strange grey smock and an over-sized coat. In his fist a letter is clutched extremely tightly.

The boy dashes down an alleyway, practically skipping every other step. A huge grin lights up his face, looking strangely unnatural, like an expression not worn very often. He dashes round the corner and starts to speed towards a lovely looking house towards the end of the road. A CRACK sounds through the air.

The boy skids to a halt and stares at the small, old man that has appeared under an oak tree right in front of him. The small man is wearing a long flowing cloak which he is trying to adjust. Finally it sits to his satisfaction and suddenly the man notices the bedraggled boy staring at him no more then three feet away. For a moment the man hesitates his hand straying towards his pocket before he spies the letter clutched in the boys hand. Relaxing the small man gives a knowing nod and a cheerful wink before striding off towards the same house the boy was heading to. The boy watches as the small man pulls a letter out of his pocket, identical to the one he is holding. The boy hugs himself in excitement and dances on the spot.

Inside the house breakfast is commencing. Two girls, one smaller then the other, sit around a dining room table. The older girl has brown hair and rather horse-ish features. The other is small, dainty and pretty with brilliant auburn hair and startling green eyes. They are chatting animatedly about inconsequential things. Their mother is just inside the kitchen, bringing out a stack load of pancakes followed by their father who is holding syrups and juice. A knock sounds at the door.

The father puts the syrup and juice on the table and walks to the door. He re-enters the dining room with a rather bemused look on his face, followed by the short man. "Er, Rose?" he says. "This man says that he is here to talk to us about Lily. He says she has been given a place at his school". The mother and smallest daughter look up in surprise.

"Me?" the small girl asks. Her mother places a quieting hand upon the girls shoulder as she asks.

"What do you mean Lily has a place at your school? We didn't apply".

"Well" says the small man, hurrying forward, with a voice that could only be called squeaky "Ms Evans has in fact been down on our list since the very moment she was born".

"How is that possible?" asks the father. "What school exactly are you from?"

"I sir" says the small man, "Come from Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Young Ms Evans is in fact a witch".

"A what!" asks the older daughter, even as the youngest goes bright pink with excitement.

"I see" says the Father in a careful, don't alarm the strange person in our house, tone of voice. "And that makes you a…?"

"A wizard of course!" says the small man cheerfully and from his pocket he pulls out a long polished stick of wood. It is a wand and he twirls it cheerfully through the air so that canaries come cascading out of the end. Another twirl and the youngest daughters clothes turn a brilliant green, the exact shade of her eyes. One more and the flowers on the table begin to open and close their petals at different intervals. The family watches this display in complete silence till all of the sudden the youngest daughter leaps into the air

"I knew it! I knew it! I told you didn't I? I told you mum! I knew Sev wasn't lying!" The small man looks rather taken aback by this sudden outburst then understanding dawns.

"Would you perhaps be referring to the young man I saw outside this house with one of our school letters?" he asks, smiling kindly.

"Yes sir!" says the girl a little breathlessly. "His name is Severus Snape and he's a wizard, and my best friend, and he told me six months ago that I was a witch and about Hogwarts and my letter and... and.." now she glares at her parents, "YOU didn't believe me!".

The mother and father glance at each other then the father shakes his head and smiles fondly down at his youngest. "We are sorry Lily. You were right". He throws an affectionate arm around his daughter. "I guess that means we are going to have a witch in the family!" the mother smiles and hugs the girls as the small wizard cheerfully hands the daughter a letter. The only one who doesn't appear to be sharing the happy mood is the eldest daughter. She is sitting with an uncertain expression on her face and as the youngest begins reading her letter out loud, she slips from her chair and quietly leaves the room.

…………………………………………

An owl flies down from the skies. It has been a busy morning and it has many more deliveries yet to make. The area below the owl is cramped with houses, many, many pressed all against each other. Already there are many people out and about though it is early still in this part of the country. The city the owl flies over is in fact London, the largest in all of England and full of large amounts of everyday, normal people. The owl isn't here to see them however; the family this owl is visiting is the complete opposite of these people. In fact this family loathes each and every one of these normal everyday people. And yet as the owl circle towards the chimney and drops the letter down it, there appears to be a change in the wind…

Inside the house, in the kitchen, a bedraggled creature reaches out and grabs the letter before it falls into the flames. The kitchen it is in is large and strange. There appears to be none of the normal appliances one expects in the kitchen but instead a lot of bizarre ones. In the corner bread is calmly kneading itself, a small cuckoo is sitting in the corner, occasionally telling the time and the creature appears to be cooking using a cauldron. This creature is humanoid in shape but small and wrinkled with long bat-like ears and large, droopy eyes. Upon seeing the letter its face breaks into a grin and it happily places the letter on a large silverware plate. Balancing the plate carefully it leaves the kitchen and enters a large dining room. The table is already fully-loaded with food but as of yet only one person is sitting at the table. She is a fat, squat looking women. Her facial features show the faintest hint of faded beauty but it is tarnished by lines of anger and hatred around her eyes and mouth. With long, claw like fingers she reaches out and takes the letter from the plate.

"Thank you Kreacher" she says in a voice that is cold and cruel. The creature bows low and backs away.

"My pleasure Mistress" it says.

The woman takes a long silver knife and slits open the letter. Pulling it out she reads it as a slow smile flutters over her lips. After a moment she puts it down and calls towards the doorway.

"Sirius! Come here". Her voice is harder than before and carries the vestiges of warning. There is a wait then the dining room door opens and in walks a boy. He is young, looking to be no more than eleven years old but already shows the markings of extreme good-looks. He carries himself with an air of confidence and a scornful regard for the women sitting before him.

"You screeched mother?" he asks and his words sound like insolence itself. The woman lips curl and she almost casually reaches out and picks up a long thin black piece of polished wood next to her plate. It is her wand but as she twirls between her fingers it bears a greater resemblance to a whip.

"Your letter has arrived Sirius" she says in a voice that is now dripping with poison. "Your time has finally come to show yourself to be other than a disappointment to your family."

"Is that so" says the boy and with complete disregard to his mothers bearing he saunters across and picks up the letter lying next to her.

"Yes" she says. "It is time that you stop this foolish behavior and take your place amongst the noble Blacks". A sneer starts to cross the boys face but before he can reply his mother flicks her wand and he is thrown across the room to be pinned against the far wall. His mother stands and stalks towards him. As she moves she twitches her wand, every movement causing a welt to appear across her sons' body. "You listen to me Sirius and you listen well." She says in a voice like a whisper. "You will go to Hogwarts and you will be placed in Slytherin. You will learn to honor your bloodline and work to eradicate those that are unworthy. You will do all those things and when you return from your Christmas break you will attend to your father and I with the respect we are owed and you will display to us proof of what it is that you have learned."

"Bait a muggle, mother?" the boy ask in a voice that is strained. The spell that keeps him pinned is slowly blocking off his air way and already he is struggling to breathe.

"It is the tradition of the Blacks!" his mother replies her voice rising to a screech. "You will return and you will show us what you have learnt. Show us how you will use your power to control those that are not worthy!"

"And... if... I... don't" the boy manages to gasp out, his face purple and strained.

"Oh" says his mother, leaning forward and smiling. "I think that you will". The boy slumps down, no longer able to remain conscious and as he does the letter he was holding flutters down from his grasp onto the floor. His mother smiles and walks away.

……………………………………………..

Another area of country, another owl. The country this owl flies over varies largely from the one before. It contains many opens spaces, fields and forests, although the area the owl appears to be heading for does appear to contain several houses. As it gets closer it is easy to see that this is in fact a village, quaint in general appearance, although with several properties that could only be described as opulent. It is to one of these houses, a mansion in fact, that the owl is clearly heading towards. With a rush of wings it slows and swoops towards an open window. It enters, to find itself in a giant kitchen. Once again this kitchen is filled with strange happenings as a broom sweeps itself and spices fly from a wrack slowly adding them selves to a stew bubbling on an extremely old-fashioned stove. Clearly someone was expecting the owl for there is an owl stand set-up next to the window which it gratefully lands on. To its delight there is water and a bucket of owl snacks attached and it quickly dips its beak. The flight has made it quite thirsty.

A scurrying noise is heard then a face appears before it. Once again it is a creature of humanoid aspect, with large eyes and ears. Unlike the other however this creature appears quite young and female. "There you are sir". It squeaks at the owl happily. "You just take your fill and rest if you want while I take your letter to the masters and mistress". The owl hoots kindly at the creature and extends its left leg so the letter attached there can be removed. The creature takes the letter and after giving the owl a quick pat skips away down the kitchen.

Before it can leave however the kitchen door swings open and three people enter, laughing and chatting away, all carrying dishes. Two are male, a man and a boy with the same messy black hair. The other is female, a woman of quiet and elegant beauty. The affections shared between them is almost palpable, especially compared to the scene witnessed in the last kitchen. The creature stops as the people carefully place the dishes on the benches. "Masters and Mistress shouldn't do that." The creature scolds, "Tis Bellas job to take the empty dishes away".

"That's okay Bella" says the man, affectionately ruffling the creature's ears. "James insisted that since this was one of his last days here he wanted to help out".

"Yeah Bel" says the boy smiling cheerfully. "You don't mind really do you? After all I'm going to be gone soon and then who will be around to annoy you and take your chores?"

"Master James shouldn't speak of himself that way" says the elf, hiding a grin. "Master James is always good company for Bella".

The mother smiles and says, "I'm sure Bella and I will be able to keep each other company enough while you are gone James". The boy grins at her then notices for the first time the letter the creature is holding expectantly out at him. His grin widens and he takes it from her with hands shaking with excitement. He rips it open and pulls out the letter. He gives a joyful yell.

"Its here! It's finally here! My letter from Hogwarts. Dear Mr Potter…." And he begins to read the letter out as his parents beam with joy over his head. When he finishes his father gives him a hug and tells him how proud he is of him. His mother meanwhile has taken his letter and is re-reading it. After a moment she gives a small hiccup. To their amazement father and son look up to see tears sliding down her cheeks.

"Mum?" the boy asks hesitantly.

"I'm sorry" she says as she too gives him a hug. She pulls back and tries to smile, "It's just here you are, my little boy, all grown up and going to Hogwarts".

"Aww mum" he says in exasperation, but he hugs her back as the father smiles and rests his hands on his wife's bent head.

………………………………………………..

Yet another kitchen on that same morning. Like the two kitchens visited previously this kitchen shows signs of otherworldly activity. Dishes are calmly cleaning themselves in the sink as porridge is slowly stirring on the stove. There is a significant difference within this kitchen however. Tension hangs almost visible in the air, resonating at high density by the three people sitting around the table. Two of them are adults, well dressed and prosperous to look at. The other is a child, a boy, approximately the same age as the other two boys seen. He is as well dressed as his parents but unlike them he appears to be unwell. His face is drawn, his body thin and there are grey streaks within his hair. The most peculiar of his aspects are his eyes as, unlike his parent who are both grey eyed his eyes are brown with strange gold flecks. These gold flecks can only be seen when he moves his head into a certain position, down, away from the sun. No-one speaks as they go about their meal. The boy sits, staring, unblinking at his porridge, seemingly un hungry. Across from him his father drinks copious amounts of coffee and appears to be reading the paper. If you watch closely however you see that he's eyes are not moving. He in fact has been staring at the same line for the last ten minutes. The mother makes many fluttery movements, picking up toast, checking the jam, all aspects that make it seem like she's busy but in fact she is getting nothing done. There is a listening quality to everything that they do, as if all their senses are straining for the slightest sound, interfering in their ability to do anything else.

There is a fluttering then a sharp pecking noise at the window. They all jump and the mothers face goes white. The father pushes himself away from the table and opens up the window in question. In jumps a large grey owl, many different letters clasped in its rather full beak. Face strangely blank the father takes the letters, feeds the owl and returns to the table. It is only if you look really close that you see that his whole body is shaking. As he sits down the mother turns to stare at him. She has given up all pretences and now watches him wide-eyed as she wrings her hands together. The boy merely stays where he is, staring at porridge.

Slowly the Father goes through the pile of letters, looking at each one, putting it aside unopened and reaching for the next. Finally he reaches the bottom and as he does his shoulders slump in despair. The mother gives a sob. "I'm sorry Remus" he says in a voice hollowed of all emotion. "There isn't a letter".

The boy looks up. His face is calm and accepting, at total odds with the news his father delivered. He shrugs. "That's okay Father. We knew our chances weren't good". His mother jumps up, intent on rushing to the boys side but the boy merely holds up his hands. "No mother its okay. Really it is". Slowly he gets up from the table, taking his porridge and placing the bowl by the sink. "I'm.. I'm not very hungry at the moment to tell you the truth. I think I will head back up to my room". His mother watches him, despairing as his father stares at the table, unwilling to look. The boy nods his head calmly and turns away. It is not until they can no longer see his face that his façade breaks and tears begin to well in his eyes.

A sharp rapping noise breaks the silence and once more they all jump. The boy hesitates by the stairs as his Father hurries to the door. Opening it his Father gasps and immediately steps aside. Into the kitchen comes a wizard, old yet somehow sprightly, with a long flowing white beard. He steps jauntily into the kitchen, brightly smiling at those before him.

"Professor Dumbledore" gasps the Father. "It's an honor"

"Nonsense, Joana" says Professor Dumbledore cheerfully, for that is indeed who the wizard is. "It's a pleasure. Kaitlan my dear, lovely to see you and may I say what a pleasant kitchen you have. I particularly like the mahogany cupboards. I've always been a great fan of mahogany". The mother smiles rather timorously and shoots an anxious glance at her husband.

"Er... What can we do for you Professor?" the father asks, reaching out and taking his wife's hands. The Professors face turns serious.

"I'm here to make arrangements Joana"

"Arrangements?" and now both father and mother shoot scared glances at the boy standing frozen at the bottom of the stairs. "Arrangements for what?"

"Why to make sure Remus has the best stay possible during his time at Hogwarts of course!" says the Professor with twinkling gaze, smiling at the boy by the stairs.

"I can go?" the boy asks, voice suddenly croaky. "I can go to school?"

The Professor beams as he says "Hogwarts would be delighted"

The boy runs, runs to the wizard and throws his arms around him. No longer is his face the calm accepting mask, it has been shattered by the burning hope scorching in his eyes and the tears of joy slipping down his cheeks.


	2. Fifth Year

**CHAPTER ONE**

**- Fifth Year -**

Lily Evans couldn't suppress her grin as she pushed her trolley through the crowded London train station. Behind her she could hear her elder sister Petunia carrying on the argument she had started in the car.

"I just don't see why we have to go ALL the way with her. Why can't we just say goodbye now?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"Petunia dear, this will be the last time you see your sister till Christmas. Don't you want to have the chance to say a proper goodbye?" she heard her mother ask.

Nope. Lily thought grimly. Her sister made it quite plain that living with a witch during the summer was difficult enough. She was probably pleased that her 'strange' sister was going away for several months.

She sighed with relief as Petunia ceased her constant nagging and seemed content to merely grumble under her breath. Finally they reached the barrier between platforms nine and ten and Lily brought her trolley to a halt. Her mother and father stepped up next to her, placing a hand on each of her shoulders. With a long, apparently suffering sigh Petunia too reached forward and placed her hand on Lily.

Hiding a grin Lily stepped forward and walked straight into the barrier. There was a moment of confusion and then the magical station of nine and three quarters appeared before them. Petunia quickly removed her hand. As much as her sister hated it, it was the only way for her family as muggles, or non magic folk, to pass from the normal station to this special one. Fortunately they didn't have to be touching a witch or wizard to pass back through into the muggle world.

"Lily! Lily!" a cry rent through the air and, pushing her way through the surrounding crowd came Abi (Abimentha) Morgan, one of her greatest friends. She was seized in a huge hug, exactly as if she hadn't just spent the last two weeks of holidays with her.

"Easy Abs" Lily laughed. "I still need those ribs".

"Whoops sorry Lils. Oh and Good morning Mr and Ms Evans" Abi said switching from over-bearing excitement to polite formalness in one of her characteristic sudden switching of moods. "And how are you Petunia dear?"

Lily smothered a giggle as Abi smiled innocently up at Petunias death glare. Her friend really could be completely incorrigible at times.

"We're just fine Abimentha. Id ask how your holidays were but Lily has been filling our heads with all the details all of last night and this morning" Allan Evans replied with a smile.

"Seen Suse yet?" Lily asked.

"I think she's already on the train" Abi said, a little distractedly as a bunch of good-looking sixth years walked past. "Which we should probably do to. We don't want to get stuck in the same carriage as the marauders again do we?" her eyes twinkled with pure evilness as Lily groaned.

"You go on ahead" Lily said, choosing to ignore the bulk of Abi's comment. "I'm just going to wait for Sev". Abi made a rude noise but for once decided to tactfully refrain from comment as Lily glared at her.

"Suit yourself, Lils. Wash you hands afterwards" and with a flick of her dark brown hair Abi dashed off, as fast as she had come. Lily had to laugh

A hand rested on her shoulder. It was her mother. "Lily dear we are going to head off now. Petunia says that she has some important homework she still has to get done". Rose Evans voice was a little strained as she said this. The tension between her two daughters could be quite upsetting for her at times.

"Sure thing, mum, it's not a problem" Lily smiled understandingly back. She gave her mum a huge hug, then her father, making the usual promises to write as often as possible and to stay out of trouble (which she usually did, mainly because no one ever expected hard working Lily Evans to be responsible for half the pranks she was a part of). Finally she was standing in front of Petunia. "Bye Tunie" she said a little hesitantly. "I'll miss you". Petunia looked at her with a haughty look but at Lily's use of her old nickname Petunia softened slightly and she consented to giving her sister a hug, if only a perfunctory one. Lily waved at her family till they disappeared through the barrier before settling down on her trunk to wait.

She checked her watch. It was ten to eleven, Sev had better get here soon. Sev, or Severus Snape, was her greatest friend in the entire world and had been since she first found out she was a witch. This was hardly surprising as it had been Sev himself who had first told her what she was. She smiled to herself remembering the burning look of excitement in his eyes as Sev had pushed his way out of a bush at the park and told her what she was. He had seemed so thrilled to discover a witch in their small country town.

She sighed as she pushed her hair out her face. She had really missed Sev over the summer. She didn't get to see him that much while at school as unfortunately they had been placed in two completely different houses but they usually spent every day of summer together. The last two weeks however Lily had spent at Abs house up in Wales. It had been fun, especially as Abi came from a magic family and Lily had enjoyed her time in a fully magical household but she had still missed spending her time with Sev.

Sev. So many people underestimated him. He found it difficult to talk to people (other than her) so many people never got to find out how funny, kind and truly talented he really was. He was extraordinarily smart, rivaling Lily's own prowess in her favorite subject of potions. But it was more then that, he was really good at every topic and had even advanced to the stage of creating his own spells. And what's more he was completely modest about it, a facet that Lily found utterly charming, especially in comparison to the stuck-up bragging ways of the afore mentioned marauders. The plain fact was that for her first three years at Hogwarts Lily had harbored a major crush on Sev, until she had finally given it up as a lost cause. He just didn't seem interested in her that way. In all honesty being in different houses didn't help and the fact that their two houses (Gryffindor and Slytherin) had for centuries hated each other made it even worse. Either way Sev was still Lily's greatest friend in the whole world. She just wished the rest of her friends could see him the way she did.

Looking at the time Lily realized it was five to eleven. Maybe she had missed him. With a sigh she got to her feet and grabbed hold of her trunk and the cage containing her owl EJ (short for Elton John). She checked the barrier one last time and too her delight saw Sev walk through it, pushing his trolley and scowling. Her heart sank. His arm was in a sling. Lily bit her lip. Sev always had strange bruises or was breaking things during the summer. He always claimed it was just that he was clumsy but Lily knew he never had any problems while he was at Hogwarts. She was about to rush over too him when he saw her and made frantic signals with one hand. She knew why a moment later when Sevs mother and father (the later holding so tightly to his wife's shoulder his hands where white and wearing an ugly expression) walked through the barrier. Quickly she grabbed her stuff and walked away. Sev never let her anywhere near his father and she had a very good idea why. The man hated magic with a fervor that even Petunia couldn't beat. Lily was positive that Sevs father was the reason Sev was always hurt during the summer.

With a great effort she managed to haul her trunk onto the train and started to make her way through the crowded corridors looking for her friends. There were so many people running about however that she wasn't making much progress and so it was with a feeling of relief that she heard a voice say, "Hey Lily! Need a hand?" she turned around to see Frank Longbottom making his way towards her. Frank was a sixth year Gryffindor who she had tutored in potions last year. He was terrible at potions but never seemed to mind that a younger student was teaching him.

"Thanks Frank" she said as he took her trunk and she managed to get a better grip on EJ's cage. "I'm just trying to find Abs and Susan"

"No worries" he said with his easy grin. "They're just down this way. I saw them earlier". He began dragging her trunk and gratefully she followed him, using his larger bulk to force his way through the crowds. They reached the right compartment and he opened it for her with a flourish. She laughed and proceeded him into the compartment. There sat Abi, Lilys other bestfriend Suse (or Susan) Williams and two fifth year Hufflepuffs they knew, Alice Chinkings and Amelia Bones. Her friends greeted her with smiles and words of welcome. Alice looked up, brushing her curly light brown hair out of her face as she said.

"I see you've been made prefect too" and pointed at her own shining prefects badge. Lily grinned back.

"That's great Alice. At least I'll know someone else, other then Frank here".

"Huh?" said Frank and Lily realized to her amusement that his cheeks had gone slightly red and he was rather determinedly not looking at Alice. Lily had the distinct impression that he had been staring at her a moment before.

"Thanks for helping me with my trunk Frank" Lily said sweetly, reaching for it.

"Sure, no worries" Frank said rather distractedly as he passed it over. "I'll just be, I mean I" and he started to back out of the compartment, walking straight into the doorway. "Ow! Er I... well... I'll see you at the prefects carriage" and rubbing his elbow and still not looking anywhere near Alice he walked off. Suppressing a smile Lily turned back to her friends. Alice seemed completely oblivious but Abi shared an evil smile with Lily.

Placing EJ's cage on the rack above the seats she and Abi together heaved her trunk up. With an exaggerated sigh Lily plonked herself down on a seat, next to Suse, who was in the middle of rummaging through her own trunk. Abi was just about to take a seat when there compartment door slid open once more and one of the sixth year Ravenclaws Abi had noticed earlier poked his head in.

"Hey Lily! How are you?" he said, grinning just at her. Lily felt her cheeks tingeing slightly as she smiled back.

"Uh..Hi Cade. Er.. not bad" she said awkwardly. _Oh god_, she thought, _smooth Lily, real smooth_. Trying not to turn any redder she couldn't help but wonder why the ground never swallowed you up when you wanted it too. "Um… how about you?"

"Yeah good. I just thought I'd drop by and see if you'd made prefect".

"Yep" Lily said, and too her relief her voice came out sounding a lot more normal. "Alice and I both did". Cade gave Alice a glancing smile before turning back to Lily.

"Do you know where the prefects carriage is? I could walk you if you like"

_And give myself another chance to embarrass myself? No thanks_. Lily tried to smile normally, "Thanks Cade, but I know where it is. Alice and I are going to go together".

"No worries" he smiled, "I'll see you there in about half an hour. Ladies" and he nodded at the rest of the girls before withdrawing from their carriage. Lily buried her head into her arms as the rest of the girls broke out in giggles.

"Oh Lily" said Abi, taking a dramatic romantic position, "Let me escort your wondrous self to the prefects carriage, where you can sit and listen to me sing to you about the perfect beauty in the way your prefects badge reflects the glint of your gorgeous green eyes".

"Shut up" Lily moaned, still not looking up. "Did you hear me? It was terrible. I sounded like a stunned mullet".

"Don't worry Lils" Suse said looking amused. "From the look on his face I think you could have said, " 'I'm a bumbling buffoon, without a clue' and he still would have found you charming".

"Stop it" Lily cried, shaking her head. "He can't possibly like me!"

Abi laughed, "Are you insane? He went out of his way to see you and asked to walk you to the prefects carriage. That and the fact he was making droopy eyes at you is a big enough sign".

Lily looked uncertain. No other boy had ever shown an interest in her before in the entire five years she had been going to Hogwarts. At least, she amended, no one important. Shaking her head again she explained this too the girls.

"That's not true Lily" Suse protested, "There's plenty of guys who have been interested in you". Lily made a rude noise with her lips but both Amelia and Alice where nodding.

"It's true. Half the boys in our year in Hufflepuff had a crush on you last year" Amelia said. Lily turned even redder.

"Then how come no one ever asked me" she half wailed

Abi snorted impatiently, "You know why Lily. Speak more than one word to the precious Lily Evans and risk months of hexing from James Potter and his ever so infamous marauders".

Lily scowled. James Potter, the never ceasing, pain in her neck, arrogant, egotistical fifth year Gryffindor who seemed to spend half his life following Lily around asking her out. The other half of the time he spent with his friends, the ridiculously named marauders, casting hexes on people for no reason and acting like they were the kings of the castle.

The marauders consisted of four people: the afore mentioned Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin. All four boys were known for their habit of disrupting classes, pulling pranks and testing which ever new hex they had learned on the nearest student, preferably a Slytherin. Potter was the worse of the lot, with his messy black hair that he was always running his fingers through so it looked like he'd just got off of a broomstick and boastful attitude. He was smart, Lily had to grudgingly accept, always came top of every class, along with Remus and Black, and was a fair Quidditch player as well but he didn't always have to BOAST about it. Potter acted like he thought was Merlins gift to wizarding kind.

His best friend and co founder of the marauders, Sirius Black, was no better. Black didn't think he was a gift to wizarding kind, oh no he just thought he was a gift to woman kind. He was always to be spotted, strolling through the castle with James, throwing winks and smiles at any pretty girl he passed. The truly annoying part of it was that he so often succeeded in getting the response he wanted. A right womanizing fool in Lily's opinion but she knew half the girls in her year didn't agree. Most of them would love to be on Sirius Black arm, and those that didn't wanted to be on Potters. Unfortunately Potter seemed content to ignore them and keep harassing Lily.

The third member of the quartet was a puzzle in itself. Peter Pettigrew was a plain, slightly chubby boy who was rather hopeless when it came to spells and was also rather accidental prone. He seemed smart enough when it came to theory work, but was terrible when it came to practicals. As far as Lily could tell the only reason Potter and Black kept him around was as an ego boost. He seemed enthralled in whatever Black and Potter did and it was a fair bet that wherever Potter and Black where there would be Pettigrew cheering them on like they were some kind of god.

The last member of the marauders was Remus Lupin and one of Lily's best friends after Sev, Suse and Abi. Remus was a quiet type, smart, funny and extraordinarily kind and Lily had absolutely no idea why he seemed so happy to hang out with obvious losers like Potter and Black. She had once said this very thing to Remus but he had just smiled and said in his quiet way that James, Sirius and Peter had shown utmost loyalty and friendship and he was lucky to have them. Lily had told him he was mad.

Aware that her friends were all grinning at her Lily made a face and checked her watch.

"Eesh Alice we had better get going" she said, jumping to her feet. Alice checked her watch and also leapt to her feet.

"Have fun" Abi said grinning in all too innocent way, "say hi to Frank and Cade for us". Lily poked out her tongue but Alice just looked confused.

Trying to hurry through a crowded Hogwarts Express was not an easy thing to do, especially when you had to travel from one end of the train to the other. Things got even more difficult when Lily spotted the marauders lounging around a carriage. Grabbing Alice's hand she crouched down and wouldn't go past the open door until three other Hogwarts students were about to and she could hide behind them. That obstacle successfully negotiated, without once hearing Potters annoying cry of "Evans", she was just straightening up again when she walked straight into the boy standing one carriage down.

Hands grabbed her before she fell and she looked up into the gold flecked eyes of one Remus Lupin. "Trying to avoid someone?" he asked, laughing at her.

"Oh shut up Remus" Lily said, embarrassed to have been caught. "Oh!" and a delighted grin broke out on her face. "You've been made a prefect too!"

Remus smiled with shy pride, "I don't know why Dumbledore chose me. Hello Alice, congratulations on becoming a prefect".

"You too" Alice smiled back, giving Remus a thumbs up as Lily rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Let's see" she said in a sarcastic voice as they continued down the train. "Why would Dumbledore make Remus Lupin, who is smart and kind, one of the top scorers in the year and always helping out others into a prefect? Why oh why would he do such a thing?" Remus smiled at her as Alice giggled.

"Probably for the same reason he would make a fiery red-head, better known for screeching insults at a certain boy then for other more noble qualities, one". Lily punched his arm and grinned back.

Finally they made it to the prefects carriage and with a wave Alice abandoned them for her Hufflepuff fifth year counter-part, Giles Smith. Lily had to fight down a giggle as she watched the way Franks eyes narrow as he watched Alice begin talking merrily to Giles. Lily and Remus sat down together, greeting the other people around them. To her disappointment Lily saw that Sev hadn't been made into a prefect but rather a taller, more obnoxious lad by the name of Linus Avery was. He saw Lily looking at him and scowled. She looked away pretending not to have seen.

The Head Boy Gideon Prewett and Head Girl Hannah Vance entered the carriage and they settled down to business. Lily and Remus were told that as fifth year prefects they would be expected to patrol the train for one hour today, right after the meeting and would also undertake castle patrol once a week, after lights out, to check for students out of bed. Lily nodded as Gideon then began going through the many rules and strictures of being a prefect. Finally they were done and were able to go.

Patrolling was boring for the most part, and also difficult every time they passed the marauders carriage and Lily would once more crouch down and try and hide behind a laughing Remus. He was no help what so ever and had even taken to whistling loudly, pulling an over the top care-free air about him whenever they did, immediately attracting as much attention as possible. Lily could have killed him. Still some how she managed to avoid attention and it was with a great feeling of relief that she looked at her watch and realized they were down to their last five minutes.

"One more sweep and that's it?" Remus said looking as eager to sit down as Lily.

"Finally" she sighed. Remus pulled a hurt look and she couldn't help but grin in return. "Not that I haven't loved spending the time with you Remi". He laughed and shook his head.

"Your probably the only one I will ever let get away with calling me that" he smiled. "James tried it once. I magicked him to the ceiling of our dorm and refused to let him down all night".

Lily laughed and they continued on. They hadn't gone more then three more steps however when a voice boomed out "Evans!" Lily stopped in horror. She'd been so busy laughing with Remus that she had walked straight past the marauders carriage without trying to hide. Remus winked evilly at her and she realized in with disgust that he had known this and had done it on purpose.

"Oh, I'm going to get you for that one Remus" she hissed as a tall boy with messy black hair and glasses jumped out of the carriage. Remus just laughed. "Potter" she said shortly.

"Ahh Evans, how lovely to see you again" the boy said, grinning in a way that clearly meant to be charming. _As if_, thought Lily. "Did you miss me? No, no" and he raised his hands. "I think we both know the answer to that. Before you start sobbing into my shoulder about the many nights you cried at being apart from me I'll save you the anguish". He reached out and grabbed one of Lilys clenched fists. "Yes Lily Evans" he said, looking into her eyes, "I will go out with you".

"Grrrr" Lily yelled in exasperation, yanking her hand free. "For the last time Potter, you bloated balloon head, I don't want to go out with you!"

"Come on Evans" James Potter smiled at her, "How much longer will you try and resist the fiery passion in your heart". Lily took a step forward and leant close toward him. James smiled smugly down at her.

"You'd better hope I deny this fiery passion in my heart Potter" she said sweetly "otherwise I'm going to CURSE YOU INTO NEXT WEEK!" James jumped back in surprise and fell over the carriage threshold. A great shout of laughter echoed from the carriage as with a sweep of her fiery hair Lily stormed off.

"Love you too Evans" James voice yelled after her. Lily clenched her fists in rage.

"Stupid, egotistical, git" she muttered darkly as she stomped along. She had almost made it back to her own carriage when a hand touched her arm. "What!" she snapped, swinging around, wand half raised. Sev stood there, looking half surprised, half amused.

"Morning to you too" he said.

"Sorry Sev" Lily said, lowering her wand instantly. "I thought you were Potter, come to hassle me some more".

"You know I could be offended by that" Sev drawled. Lily couldn't help but smile. The smile faded however as she took in his broken arm once more. She reached out gingerly to touch it.

"Oh Sev" she said sadly. He twitched it away.

"Don't worry about it. I'll get Madam Pomfrey to mend it as soon as we get to Hogwarts. It'll be perfect in no time". Lily smiled sadly at him. She was just about to ask how his holidays had been when another voice spoke up.

"Severus." They turned. Linus Avery, Antonin Dolohov and a younger boy Lily vaguely recognized as being Sirius Blacks younger brother Regulus were standing there, all three with identical sneers. "Reg just told me something rather amusing that happened at his place these holidays. We were just going to go tell Macnair. Why don't you ditch the… your… friend… and come along. It's a hoot".

Lily glared at them. She knew perfectly well that if Sev hadn't been here Avery would have just come straight out and called her a Mudblood, if he had of talked to her at all. Mudblood was a nasty name for a muggle born, indicating they had dirty or unpure blood because they didn't come from wizarding stock. Avery, like most Slytherins, believed in the purity of blood and was constantly insulting people with muggle heritage like Lily's. The only reason he didn't say anything now was because all Slytherin fifth years knew better than to insult Lily around Sev. Last time Avery had tried Sev had cursed him so badly he had ended up looking like a deformed slug.

Sev looked at them with interest, than glanced hesitantly at Lily. She sighed, "It's okay, Abs and Suse will be wondering what happened to me anyways". Pretending to completely ignore the three boys who were still watching them she smiled at Sev and walked off. She would never understand why Sev insisted on hanging out with those idiots. The marauders were bad but at least they never acted like they were better than others because of blood status. They were also vehemently against the dark arts that people like Avery and Macnair seemed to enjoy so much.

Finally she made it back to her carriage where Suse, Abi and Amelia were engaged in a game of exploding Snap. Alice had obviously left for her turn at patrolling. As she entered Suse slammed her hand down on two fives and the whole deck exploded. All three girls squealed and Abi had to quickly put out her hair. Lily walked over and slumped onto the carriage seat. If this train ride was any example she was in for one hell of a year.


	3. When Dark Marks Show

_**I'd just like to briefly explain that if you find any errors within what I have written I do apologize. I don't have a beta and I have very little time to go over my work. Any feedback is always appreciated.**_

**CHAPTER TWO**

**- When Dark Marks Show -**

Lily was woken early the next day by a large heavy force falling straight onto her. "Ahh!" she yelled in surprise as giggles erupted around her. She blinked in confusion, unable to see anything except for the heavy curtain lying across her face. Her arms were pinned by the large heavy object and for a moment she felt like she was being smothered alive.

"Oops! Sorry Lily" a voice said and the weight was moved. She shoved the curtain off her face and then pulled it back. On the floor by her bed was one of her dorm mates Felicia Fawcett. Felicia's best friend, Mary Macdonald, was standing by her open trunk still giggling. Suse was sitting up in her bed looking as confused as Lily felt, while Abi was still snoring.

"Waz goin' on?" Suse asked sleepily.

"It's my fault" Felicia explained as she tried unsuccessfully to get to her feet. Groaning in frustration she started to unbuckle the shoes she was wearing. "Mary showed me her new muggle platforms and I tried them on". She wrestled one off. "Turns out it's a lot more difficult to walk in them than it looks. I tripped and fell over onto Lily" Still giggling Mary took back her platforms and helped Felicia up.

"Sorry you got woken up Lily" she said, "But that was completely hilarious".

Lily sighed "That's okay. What time is it anyway?"

"Still early" Felicia said as she put on her own shoes. "Breakfast won't be starting for another half an hour".

Lily groaned as she slumped back into bed. She had been up late last night, not just because of the usual Hogwarts feast (which had been as excellent as usual) but because she and the girls had been up late gossiping about everything they had done over the summer. It was no good though, she was completely awake. After a moment she had the grand idea of going and having an early morning relaxing bath in the prefects bathroom. She had been told all about it during the prefects meeting and it sounded truly wonderful. She also doubted that anyone else would be using it this early in the morning on the first day back.

Quickly she jumped out of bed, gathered her stuff and with a wave at the chatting Mary and Felicia left the dorm. She turned left and continued climbing the girls stairway, passing dorm after dorm (most of which where still quiet as everyone was sleeping). Finally she reached the girls bathroom and took the last spiral of the staircase to where a portrait of a Gryffindor lion, wearing a crown, was hanging. Checking to make sure no one was around she leant close and whispered "bubblebath" The lion smiled at her and opened its jaws. They stretched wider and wider until they formed a doorway leading to a dark passage. Lily smiled and set off. Every tower had doors from the boys and girls dorms leading towards the prefect's bathroom. There was also a door located along the fifth floor corridor. Most importantly once a prefect had entered one of the bathroom passageways or the bathroom itself all other doors sealed and would not open until they had left again.

At the end of the corridor was another door which Lily pushed open and clambered out of. She gasped in amazement. The bathroom was huge, with a bath that filled the entire floor and hundreds of different taps. As the door swung shut behind her she realized that it had a picture of a lioness on it. Closer inspection revealed that there were two pictures for each house, each containing a male and female version of the house mascot. When she gingerly reached over to touch the female version of an eagle it flapped its wings and turned to her. "Excuse me you do not belong to my house, and cannot pass this doorway".

"Sorry" Lily said hastily, backing away. "I was just looking". The eagle nodded regally at her. Turning back towards the bath Lily couldn't help but grin in delight. This was going to be fantastic.

Over half an hour later she left the prefects bathroom and after dumping her stuff in the dorm (everyone else had already gone) left to go get some breakfast. As she expected all the girls, except for Abi, were already down there. She had just sat down next to Suse when Abi entered the Hall, and walked over to sit across the table from Lily, next to Felicia.

"Goodmorning Abs" Lily said, loud and cheerfully. Abi scowled at her and began drinking copious amounts of coffee. She wasn't much of a morning person. It wasn't until after her third cup or so that she seemed to wake up enough to join in on the conversation.

"So whats the plan for today" Suse was saying. "Class doesn't start until tomorrow".

"I love it when start of term is one day before classes start. It gives us an entire day of holiday fun, with us still being able to do magick" Felicia said in a dreamy tone of voice. She didn't seem to be really talking to them however as her focus was entirely on the marauders who were sitting four seats away.

"And this has nothing to do with being able to spend a whole extra day in the presence of one Sirius Black does it?" Suse teased.

"Hey I'll take Potters company as well" Felicia said, grinning.

"Me too," agreed Mary, "Pity he's only interested in Lily"

"Hey, you can take him if you want him. In fact please do" Lily grumbled making the others laugh.

"Hmm, they certainly add some nice scenery" Abi said, pausing between gulps of coffee "But unfortunately their swollen heads take up most of it". The girls laughed again

"Remus isn't bad looking either" commented Suse

"Now that I will agree with" said Lily.

They had all just about finished eating when Professor McGonagall started walking up their table, handing out their new timetables for the year. Lily had just received hers when someone shoved themselves in between Abi and Felicia and sat down.

"How are my ladies. Missing me?" Sirius Black said, grinning at them all with a mischievous look in his grey eyes.

"Since when have we been your ladies Black" Lily glared back at him crossly.

"Oh you're not Lily" Sirius said, grinning even wider. "I'm sure someone else is quite capable of taking care of you". With a feeling akin to dread Lily realized that there was someone standing next to her. She glanced up. James Potter was standing there, looking down at her with that smug look she hated so much.

"Alright Evans?" he said, "Need some company?" With horror Lily realized he was about to take the seat next to her. Reaching over she grabbed a hold of Remus, who had taken the next seat over and yanked. Taken completely by surprise he half fell, half slid into the seat next to her, looking completely stunned.

"Nope" she smiled with fake cheeriness up at James. "Remus has got it more then under control". She turned back to Sirius, "Your right Black, Remus is quite capable". Looking put out James took the seat Remus had so precipitously been vacated from. Remus meanwhile was still looking a little stunned as he shook his graying hair out of his eyes, and readjusted his robes which were all lopsided from the strength of Lily's pull. She grinned apologetically at him as he ruefully shook his head. Peter had also followed them over and was now taking the seat on the other side of Abi.

"So" said Sirius, pulling out his timeslip, "Which of you lucky ladies is sharing your classes with me this year?" Lily rolled her eyes but the other girls pulled out their own time sheets.

"Let's see" Abi said, "This year I'm doing Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies, Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, History of Magick and Astronomy".

"Me too" said Suse, looking over her time-table. "Hmm, and it looks like we have both on Monday"

"Well aren't you the lucky ones" said Sirius winking at her and Abi. "That's the same as my schedule". Abi rolled her eyes but Felicia leant forward eagerly saying,

"I've got the same, except for Divination instead of Muggle Studies".

"Why are you doing Muggle Studies Sirius?" asked Suse sounding puzzled. "You didn't seem particularly interested in them last year."

"I knew it would annoy my mother" Sirius said with a careless shrug but his face had darkened. Everyone knew that Sirius didn't like to discuss his family. He never said why but Remus had once explained to Lily that Sirius family was very much into pure-blood status and considered Sirius a disappointment for being sorted into Gryffindor and consorting with half-blood wizards like himself.

"Well I've got Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy" she said hastily to break the silence. Sirius didn't look at her but Remus shot her a grateful look.

"Me too" he said lightly, "I guess James and I will see be working with you again this year". Lily scowled. She'd forgotten that James was also doing Arithmancy, although how she was not sure, considering the fact that James was in every lesson she had. He had actually stolen her classroom enrollment form and copied her entire lesson plan down.

"Together again Evans" James said, leaning forward so he could see her properly. "Imagine what life would be like with out me".

"A lot more pleasant" she retorted and turned her back on him. Suse quickly hid her grin as Lily turned to face her.

"So… you never answered my question. What are we going to do today?"

"Me and Remus have to take the first years on a tour of the castle. After that I thought I might spend some time with Sev" she determinedly looked away from Suse as the latter looked disgusted. "I didn't get to see him for the last two weeks of holidays, because we were at Abi's"

"Your hanging out with Snivellus?" said James sounding annoyed

"It's none of your business Potter"

"It is if you're hanging out with that freak!"

"Don't call him that!"

"Maybe you should both..." interrupted Remus in a calming tone but he was interrupted by Sirius.

"Shuddup Remus, James is right. The only girl Snivellius deserves to hang out with is Moaning Myrtle"

"That's it!" Lily was bright red and shaking with fury. "You two have no right to tell me who I can and can't hang out with. Severus is worth ten of you! Both of you! And the only people who you deserve to date are… are… Hagrids pet flobberworms!" She was on her feet at this point and it was only by pure strength of will that she didn't pull out her wand and curse them both. "I'll see you out in the great hall in ten minutes" she muttered to Remus.

"Evans!" James yelled after her, "Evans are you dating Snivellus?"

Lily didn't reply but stormed over to where Severus was sitting drinking the last of his pumpkin juice. She grabbed him by the arm muttering a 'can I talk to you' before defiantly looping her arm through his and marching him out of the Great Hall. Once in the entrance she slowed down and let him go. "Sorry" she said, "I was just really angry"

Fortunately he didn't seem annoyed by her sudden man-handling. "Whats up?" he asked.

"Nothing" she said still consumed by her anger. Sev raised an eyebrow and started to walk off. "Sev wait!" she called after him. He stopped and turned back. "Want to hang out with me once I'm done taking the Gryffindor first years around the castle? Sev smiled.

"I'll meet you at our place down by the lake after lunch" he said softly. She smiled. Somehow Sev could always cheer her up. She sighed and leant back against a statue as she waited for Remus to finish his breakfast. One of these days… she'd drown Potter in the lake. She grinned again and was able to greet Remus quite cheerfully as he rather apprehensively walked out of the Great Hall. She looped her arm through his.

"Come on Remi. Lets go get some first-years completely lost"

………………………………………………….

The next two days seemed to be loaded with triple the pressure of previous years. They would be taking their owls at the end of the year, but it seemed to Lily that the teachers were determined to kill all the students with homework before then. So far she had three essays, two spells to perfect and one runes problem to translate by the end of the week and she hadn't even started her third day. It was rather unsurprising then that by Wednesday she was feeling distinctly grumpy as she walked down with Abi and Suse to breakfast. The moment the girls entered the great hall however Lily forgot her own worries. There was a strained, tension to the air, with everyone talking in quiet, hushed voices. The girls glanced at each other and hurried to the Gryffindor table, where Mary, Felicia and the marauders were sitting together. Lily's anxiety grew as she saw the tear stains on both Mary and Felicas faces, as well as the serious look on all of the boys.

James looked up as they got close but for once didn't smile or wink at Lily. Instead he murmured something to Sirius. Both boys immediately scooted down the bench, leaving seats around Mary and Felicia for the girls. Lily sat down next to Mary and before she could stop herself, blurted "What's happened?" A teary Mary passed her a sheath of papers. Taking it Lily saw that it was a copy of the daily prophet. On the front page was a giant picture of a house, crumbling into ruins. With a sinking feeling Lily realized that hovering over the house was the horrifying site of a large skull, with a snake crawling out of its mouth. The sign was that of the Dark Mark, the symbol of a dark wizard calling himself Lord Voldermort. Rumor had it that the mark was only ever cast when Lord Voldermort or his followers, known as Death Eaters, killed. Lily read.

_DARK MARK FOUND ABOVE MUGGLE VILLAGE_

_Early this morning Aurors were called out to the village of Foxtrots Creek, a muggle village in the country of Whales. There they found a seen of utter devastation. Not a single muggle was alive, entire families murdered and every house destroyed, with the largest Dark Mark yet seen hanging over the entire village expanse. Although Aurors were unable to say exactly when this atrocity occurred the daily prophet can report that it may have been as long as 32 hours since the attack. Although it has been confirmed that this was the work of Dark Wizards Aurors are further incapable of determining how many were involved, or even if Lord Voldermort himself took part in the carnage. What is known for certain is that many of the muggles showed signs of torture, with signs of both the cruciatus curse, and the type of brutal damage that can only be caused by inferi. Every single muggle died however from the effects of the unforgivable killing curse… cont. page 2_

"Oh my god" Lily whispered, "How is this possible?" Mary gave another dry sob. Felicia seemed unable to talk.

"That's not the worst of it" said a voice solemnly. Abi, Suse and Lily looked at James while Felicia turned away and more tears streaked down Mary's cheeks. For a moment he looked like he didn't know how to continue. Finally Sirius said.

"It seems that not even the teachers knew about what had happened. Otherwise I'm sure they would have… Dumbledore was so angry. It shouldn't have happened the way it did…" Both Felicia and Mary had tears streaking down their face now. James was opening and clenching his hands.

"There was one survivor from that village" he whispered, "a girl, a first year, here at Hogwarts. She read it in the paper this morning. Her entire family…" he looked away from them. "She just sat there and screamed. She just screamed and screamed and screamed" he looked back at them. "Dumbledore had to put her too sleep to make her stop". A tear streaked down his cheek. Lily gave a sob.

"No" Abi whispered, her own eyes filling. Suse just stared at James, stared as if she couldn't believe what he had said. Remus and Peter seemed unable to speak at all. James had returned to clenching and unclenching his fists. Sirius was staring at the ceiling. Suddenly he slammed his fist onto the table. They all jumped.

"This has to stop" he said angrily. "We have to make it stop. You and me James, we'll make them stop. People like this Lord Voldermort, his stupid death eaters, people like… my parents"

James gave a small smile. "Your right Sirius. And we will"

"Don't count me out" said Remus lightly.

"Of course not Remus old man" said James, cuffing him about the head. "We need you to stop me and Sirius from running bravely into battle but doing something stupid like forgetting our wands" he turned to Peter. "What say you Pete?"

"I've got a remembrall I wont forget mine" Peter said. Sirius ruffled his hair.

"That's our Peter, always thinking ahead".

Lily shook her head and looked back down at the paper. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to find out that your entire family had died that way. For a moment she felt a lump in her throat as almost unbidden came to her the image of her own village, her house on the cover of the daily prophet. The panic rose a little more in her throat and she found herself looking over her shoulder, trying to see Sev. It would just be her and him, the only survivors if something like that happened. She blinked. Sev was sitting with Avery and Mulciber. They had the article propped up in front of them. Was he.. he couldn't be.. surely… he wasn't… smiling?

……………………………………………………….

For whatever reason there were no more reported attacks for the next couple of days, a sadly unusual aspect in todays atmosphere. Everyone was quiet and gloomy. People talked in hushed voices and on the rare occasion that laughter was heard it sounded shrill and unnatural in the air. The first year (Lily later learned her name was Gillian Humphreys) had not returned and rumor had it that she had been forced to move away with her aunt and uncle, to another country. It was feared that as the only survivor (and a muggleborn witch at that) she would be a target to whoever had destroyed her home.

Lily, like many other students, had sent an owl home the same day as the attack and was relieved to hear from her parents that everything was fine. They had heard about the destroyed village on the muggle news but unsurprisingly all they had been told was that a giant, unseasonable tornado had been responsible.

What with her new prefect duties and the ever increasing homework load Lily had not been able to find a chance to talk to Sev about what she had thought she had seen that morning. She desperately wanted to believe that she had been mistaken about his apparent cheerfulness but a niggling worry remained. His friends in Slytherin were just so awful and openly approved of the muggle killings that a part of Lily couldn't help but wonder. As often as she told herself that Sev could never be like that she would also remember all the things her friends had tried to say about him in previous years and that strange, almost gleeful look on his face as he read the paper.

So it was with a feeling of immense relief that Lily got up from the Gryffindor table at lunch on the Friday, ready to head down too her potions lesson. Although it wasn't the only class they had with Slytherins, it was the only one where Lily sat with Sev and could talk freely with him. They were the two best students in the class and their teacher, Professor Slughorn, liked to have them sitting right up the front where he could watch everything they did.

She had only just left the Great Hall with Abi and Suse however when she became aware of a voice calling her name. She turned around in surprise to see Cade hurrying towards her. Abi and Suse shot Lily triumphant looks, and before she could stop them, abandoned her in the middle of the entrance way. Feeling distinctly hot under the collar Lily awkwardly waited for Cade to catch her up.

"Er... what's up?" Lily asked, trying frantically not to blush.

"I just wanted to let you know that we have a prefects meeting tonight" Cade said, smiling down on her.

"Oh, okay" Lily said. She stood there for a moment longer, then feeling decidedly stupid blurted "see you" and began to walk off.

"Wait a sec, Lily" Cade called after her. Catching her up once more he said "How bout I walk you to your next lesson, since your friends seem to have gone on without you". Lily smiled.

"Thanks. That would be nice". She was just about to turn back around when she realized with a sinking feeling that the marauders had appeared behind them. A resigned looking Remus was standing back as a wickedly grinning Sirius and black-faced James pointed their wands at Cade's back. Peter was standing behind them, looking as if he was struggling not to laugh.

"Cade look out!" Lily yelled, but it was too late. Both boys had cried out two different spells, which hurtled through the air at Cade… and rebounded. Lily blinked in shock as one spell hit a wall and almost shattered a painting and the other flew back where it had come from and almost took out the marauders themselves. As the boys yelled in surprise and dove out the way Cade very calmly took Lilys arm and without even looking back said

"Better luck next time Potter"

Trying very hard to understand what on earth had just happened Lily followed Cade as he led her towards the potions corridor.

"Cade.."

He laughed, "It was a hex protection charm". He quirked a grin at her, "Everyone knows Potters reputation and what happens to any boy who talks to Lily Evans. I simply cast _Salvio hexia_ on myself before I went to talk to you, then let Potter and his morons hurt themselves" Lily couldn't help but laugh at this. Cade smiled at her and she at him, before she grew shy and looked away.

"So I hear you're quite the whiz at potions" Cade said and she looked back up at him.

"I love them" she admitted. "For me, as a muggleborn, it was the easiest bit of magick to work with since it's so close to the chemistry that muggles naturally do".

"Hmm, well I'm not that great at them myself. I always get confused with the names of things like puray of evervescence and precipitant of everpuray" Cade laughed. Lily smiled and began to explain the easiest way to tell the differences. They had quite an enjoyable conversation and it was with a twinge of regret that Lily realized they had made to her potions class. Cade bid her goodbye and left back the way he had came, passing the scowling forms of Sirius and James with a cheery wave as he did. Remus and Peter were obviously still laughing about what had happened. Lily quickly looked away and hurried over to join Abi and Suse who were eagerly waiting for her by the potion class door. They had several minutes to gossip about everything had happened before the door opened and the large, walrus like figure of Professor Slughorn emerged.

"Inside, everyone, inside. Ahh Ms Evans. Here for you, as promised, your portion of Felis Felixis. And here is the one for Mr Snape. Kindly pass it on when he gets here". Lily eagerly took a hold of the small viles presented to her. Her portion of Felis felixis was her prize for being joint winner in a competition Slughorn had held the previous lesson. They had all been challenged to create the best potion, the winner of which would get enough Felis felixis to last twenty four hours. Felis felixis was liquid luck and extremely rare. She and Sev had come equal first with perfect renditions of the draught of living death. Slughorn had decided to give them their prize the next lesson, as he had to go back to his office for enough liquid luck for two.

Sitting in her chair Lily began to wonder what on earth was taking Sev quite so long. He showed up a minute before the bell rang and muttered a hasty apology to Slughorn. Stowing his stuff next to Lily he gave her a warm smile, which changed to a look of excitement as she passed over his portion of Felixis.

Class started, with Slughorn announcing that they would be making calming solutions today, a potion he declared they should all learn nice and early, in case any of them needed some during their owls. After reading the list of ingredients Lily walked with Sev to the ingredients cupboard. After grabbing all the written ingredients she hesitated, then put back a twig of lavender and reached instead for some clary sage. Her hand closed over it just as Sevs did. They looked at each other in surprise.

"Great minds think a like" Lily giggled as she grabbed enough for two. Sev laughed and turned to follow her back to their table walking smack into James and Remus who were right behind them.

"Get your greasy head out of the way Snivellus" James said rudely. It was evident from his tone that he was still angry about what had happened earlier and had decided to take it out on Sev. "You know if your such a great potioneer it's a wonder that you can't find your way to a decent shampoo". Lily bit her lip in consternation. Sevs' hair was one his real touchie spots. She was one of the few who knew that it was the result of a bad potioning mistake by his mother many years ago. She had been trying too create a hair sleeking potion which had exploded, covering her and her young son. Although they had both been okay for the most part a side result had been an extenuated greasy covering of their hair that had never gone away.

"With your brains potter it's amazing that you know how to find your way to your own bottom, and yet your head always seems to be permanently stuck up there" Sev said succinctly. Lily roared with laughter as James turned red. Behind him Lily saw that even Remus was fighting down a grin and she winked mischievously at him.

She and Sev breezed back to their table, where they started working on their potions. Once all the ingredients had been added and their potions were simmering nicely Lily turned to Sev.

"Sev…" she began.

"Lily I've been thinking. After what happened to that muggle village I thought about what it would be like if something like that happened to us. And I just wanted to let you know, that no matter what, I'm always going to be there too look after you"

Lily stared at him. How had he known? For a moment she felt the oddest feeling, like somehow Sev had just looked at her and known what it was that she was going to say. It wasn't the first time either. Ever since the start of fourth year, whenever she had something really big on her mind, Sev had been surprising her with somehow knowing exactly what it was that was going on. She blinked, nodded, then said hastily

"So.. what do you think you will do with your portion of Felix?" Sev turned red.

"I'm not sure" he said, apparently suddenly a little bit shy. "I haven't really thought.. I mean I thought it might. I dunno.. I guess there's something that I've been wanting to do so I thought I might use it then…"

Lily laughed. "Sev that made no sense what so ever". He quirked an eyebrow

"Well what are you planning to do?"

Lily turned back to her potion, "I haven't decided yet" she started to give her solution a couple of stirs. "I'm not really sure what I want to do with Felixis yet… but you can imagine it Sev, just imagine it for a moment. One perfect day". She could feel his eyes still on her, even as he started stirring his own potion.

"One perfect day" he whispered.


	4. Friendships

_**I'd just like to briefly explain that if you find any errors within what I have written I do apologize. I don't have a beta and I have very little time to go over my work. Any feedback is always appreciated.**_

**CHAPTER THREE**

**- Friendships –**

A couple of weeks later when they got back to their common room they found Gryffindor Tower abuzz with excitement. "I wonder what's going on?" Lily said as the three girls made their way to their favorite chairs to study.

"I dunno" Suse said as she dumped her bag on the ground. "Hey! Do you think they've put up a notice for the next Hogsmeade weekend?"

Abi blew some hair out of her face, "Nah it's too early in the year. We usually don't hear about the first Hogsmeade trip for a couple of months". Lily paused between pulling her books out of her bag

"What ever it is it seems to have got everyone…" she was interrupted by a huge shout that echoed across the room.

"PRONGS! Check this out" it was Sirius and he appeared to be talking to James.

"_Prongs_?" Abi said, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

"What is it Padfoot?" James said with a laugh.

"_Padfoot_?" Lily and Suse said at the same time.

"What's with the sudden nicknames?" Abi asked, looking bewildered.

"And why are they so weird?" Suse said starting to laugh. Lily and Abi looked at her and began to giggle as well. Suse was right. '_Padfoot_' and '_Prongs_' were quiet possibly the oddest nicknames they had ever heard. Meanwhile James had joined Sirius where he was standing by the notice board. He gave a shout.

"Excellent!" he looked across the room, "Moony, Wormtail! Quidditch trials are on in a week and a half". The girls looked at each other and started laughing even harder. They were definitely the most ridiculous nicknames the three girls had ever heard in their life.

Finally their giggles started to subside. "Well at least we now know what all the excitement is about" Suse said. "We didn't even have try outs last year" She scratched her chin idly with her quill, "I wonder why we are having them this year? The team seemed good enough last year, I mean we won didn't we?"

"Marcus Bletchley and Joanna Slyther left at the end of last year. We need a new beater and chaser for this years team" Abi said without looking up from her homework assignment. Lily and Suse looked at her in surprise. As they continued to look at her they could see her cheeks starting to go red. At last she looked up at them. "I'm going to try out for the beater position. I've wanted to since second year but we never had a position open".

"Are you kidding me?!" Lily squealed. "This is amazing, why didn't you tell us!"

Abi grinned, looking relieved. It was the first time either of the two girls had seen their confident friend ever look nervous. "You really think so?"

"Of course!" Suse said giving Abi a giant hug. "You'll be brilliant. I just wish I was good enough to try"

"Me too" Lily said with a sigh. "I love Quidditch but it doesn't love me". Both girls laughed at that. During their first year broomstick training Lily had been so hopeless at flying that their teacher Professor Windrough had ended up tactfully suggesting that perhaps Lily should embrace her naturally abilities on the ground and leave flying for the birds.

"Hey Evans!" a voice said behind Lily. She closed her eyes in resignation. James came round and sat on the edge of Lily's chair. "Did you hear about the Quidditch trials?" He grinned down at her and ruffled his hair to give it his trademark broomstick look. Across the room Lily could see a group of fourth year girls looking at him adoringly.

"Everyone this side of Mars heard you Potter" she said, reaching out for her transfiguration book. "By now the entire castle is aware of the fact that Gryffindor trials are this weekend".

"Going to come down and cheer yours truly on?" he asked smiling.

"No" Lily said shortly. "But I will be there. There is a particularly Quidditch hopeful that I have my eye on and plan to support one hundred percent". James smile faltered and a crease appeared in the middle of his forehead. Out of the corner of her eye Lily could see Suse stuff her hand over her mouth in an attempt to cover her giggles. Abi meanwhile had buried her face so far into her homework parchment that Lily wouldn't have been surprised if she got ink up her nose.

"Who?" James demanded, and there was a definite edge of panic to his voice.

"Never you mind Potter" Lily said smiling sweetly. "Now I have some homework to do. I want to get it all done before Saturday after all. I can't possibly miss out on the Quidditch trial". Suse abruptly jumped up from the couch, her shoulders shaking with mirth.

"Just got to get another book" she managed to mutter before sprinting towards their dorm.

"What's going on?" a voice said and Remus sat himself down on Suse recently emptied seat. "What was up with Susan?" he caught a look at James face, "And why do you look like I just blew up your favorite broomstick?"

"Yeah Prongs what's up" Sirius said as he sat down on the ground in front of them. "Evans turn you down again?"

"Course she did" Peter said in absent tone as he sat down next to him. "Oh… whoops" and he looked guiltily at James.

"Thank you Peter" Lily said smiling at him. "At least some appreciates that I have some taste". Peter smiled hesitantly at her, than tried to give James a look that indicated he had no idea what she was talking about. Lily laughed.

"What's with you lot and those nicknames?" Abi said with a frown as she finally emerged from her homework. Now that Lily was no longer bating James she felt it was safe to talk without giving anything away.

"What nicknames?" Sirius said in an all too casual tone of voice.

"You know Prongs, Moony.. er Plumpfoot and Worm.. something"

"Prongs, Moony, Padfoot and Wormtail" corrected Peter before he realized what he'd said. He covered his face with his hands. Sirius rolled his eyes at him.

"What like we can't have nicknames now Morgan?" he asked. "I mean if that's a rule then I spose we'd better all start calling you Abimentha" Abi went red and threw her potions book at him.

"Shut up Black!" she yelled. Sirius just grinned at her.

"You know you love me really". It was Lily's turn to roll her eyes now. Sirius was as bad as James. Both convinced they were the best things Hogwarts had to offer. Unfortunately idiot girls like the fourth years that were STILL looking longingly over at them just added to their own egotistical perception. She slammed her book shut.

"I'm going to study up stairs" she said. A black faced Abi started gathering her own things.

"Find me distracting Evans?" James said standing up as she did. She wrinkled her nose at him.

"The way you smell anyway". He grinned at her. "It makes me want to puke" his face fell again. _It's always so easy with him_, Lily thought with an inner smirk. Abi pulled all her stuff together then realized a grinning Sirius was still holding her potions book. Scowling she stalked over to him and snatched it back.

"Ouch Morgan, why so cold" he said grinning. She smacked him on the head with her book. "Hey!" he cried indignantly. She burst out laughing.

"Sorry Sirius your fat head just got in the way". Lily and the rest of the boys started laughing as well. Lily looped her arm through Abi and led her up the stairs. Abi was grinning quite happily to herself now and Lily felt a surge of affection for her friend and her vibrant mood swings. She never ever stayed annoyed about something for long. When they got back up to their dorm they found Suse sitting on her bed with her transfiguration homework spread out before her. She looked up as they entered.

"Sorry" she said. "I couldn't stop laughing and I knew I was going to give things away". Abi turned bright red again and slumped onto her bed with a dramatic moan.

"Quidditch trials. Why did you remind me?"

…………………………………………………….

The next week seemed to pass in the same dreary routine. Get up, wash, go down to eat breakfast, get asked out by Potter, morning lessons (receive a note from Potter asking for a date), lunch, get asked out by Potter again, afternoon lessons (put up with Potter winking and mouthing "you know you want to say yes"), tea, try to study while Potter (who has trapped you in whatever spot you tried to hide in) talks about how much you love him and asks you out, argue with Potter, hang out with girls or patrol with Remus and RANT about Potter, go to bed. But not before Potter asks you out again. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Therefore it came as quite a shock when the night before her weekly patrol with Remus Lily received a note from Professor Dumbledore. It was delivered to her by Professor McGonaghall at the start of transfiguration. Feeling slightly anxious Lily rapidly went over everything she had done over the last two weeks Surely Professor Dumbledore hadn't found out about the time she had completely lost her temper at Potter and caused an entire shelf of books to fly onto him… and then told Madam Pinch that Potter had done it himself. _It was self defense_, she thought grumpily, _he said he wanted to kiss me_. It had actually been a little weird in all honesty. He had found her hiding up the very back of the library working on her ancient runes assignment. They had been embroiled in their usual discussion. Well he had been talking and she had been yelling, when she yelled at him to go after one of his groupies. He had looked her straight in the eyes and said "The only person I want to kiss is you Evans". She had stared at him stunned, he took a step forward, she panicked and the next thing she knew it was raining books.

"What's that Lil?" Suse asked, looking over.

"It's a note from Professor Dumbledore" she said as she slit it open and started to unfurl it. Inside in beautiful cursive writing was the missive.

_Dear Ms Evans,_

_Can you please come and see me tonight at my office at 9 o'clock. I wish to discuss with you how your current prefect duties. My office is located behind the large Gryffon on the fifth floor._

_Yours Sincerely_

_Professor Albus Dumbledore_

_P.S. I have a fondness for sherbert_

Lily breathed a sigh of relief. He just wanted to talk about prefect duties. Her brow furrowed. "Sherbert?" she said in confusion.

"It's the password to get into his office" said a voice behind her. She shot an annoyed look behind her where the marauders were sitting. James, who was sitting behind her, had evidently read the note over her shoulder. The space next to him was empty as Professor McGonagall had decided to make Sirius help hand out the animals they were going to be working on. On his other side sat Remus who for some reason seemed to be refusing to look at Lily. His ears had gone slightly pink. He wasn't looking too well at the moment Lily noticed. His robes looked like they were beginning to hang off him and his skin seemed grey tinged to almost white in some areas. Lily turned back to James

"It's rude to read things over people's shoulders. And how would you know anyway?" James just smiled and winked making Lily roll her eyes. Of course, one of their ever so stupid pranks, heck probably more. Lily didn't mind a good joke any more then any one else but the way the marauders went about it was so… so… well they were stupid and that was all that mattered.

At the end of class Lily decided she had better ask Remus if he too had got a message. She had tried to get his attention during the class but he had apparently been too deep in his notes to notice her little waves, glances or even the note she had tried to slip onto his desk. He had accidentally knocked it back onto the floor, without even seeing it. So the moment McGonaghall said they could go Lily turned round and blinked in surprise. Remus had disappeared. Looking round she saw that he was already near the door. "Remus!" she called, struggling to shove her stuff in her bag, "Remmie wait.." but he was gone. Sighing in exasperation she turned back round to the rest of the marauders. "Hey can you tell.." they walked straight past her, as if they hadn't heard a thing. She stared at them, completely nonplussed, as they walked off.

"What was that all about?" asked Abi.

"I have absolutely no idea" Lily said staring at the retreating backs of all four marauders. Lily seemed to spend the rest of the day trying to catch the marauders attention. No matter what she tried she couldn't even get James to look at her. In desperation she roped in Abi and Suse for help. They planned to corner all four boys on their way to their charms lesson, the last lesson they had before dinner. All three girls rushed from their potions lessons, up through the different stairways arriving exhausted in front of charms twenty minutes before anyone else.

"Okay" Lily said between gasps "you two hold off Peter, Black and Potter and I'll grab Remus and make him talk to me". Suse and Abi nodded in between their own gasps.

"Lily, why wouldn't Remus be talking to you?" Suse panted.

"I don't know" Lily said throwing her arms up in exasperation. She turned to them and both girls could see the hint of tears in her eyes. "I don't know what I've done wrong. Remus is my closest friend after you two and Sev. Why doesn't he want to talk to me anymore?"

"Oh Lily" Abi said giving her a quick hug. "I'm sure it's just a big misunderstanding".

"I hope so" Lily said in a small voice. A creaking noise sounded behind them. All three spun round but the corridor was still empty. The only difference was that the Charms door was now open. Lily shrugged and turned away again. The girls waited and waited as the rest of the class began to filter past them. Felicia and Mary gave them puzzled looks as they walked past. Suse told them to save them some seats. Finally at a minute too Professor Flitwick peered out of the room.

"Hurry it up girls" he squeaked at them. "It's time to start". The girls looked at each other in resignation and walked in. Lily stumbled to a halt as Abi and Suse walked straight into the back of her. There, sitting as easy can be were all four marauders in their usual seats at the back of the class. The girls all stared at them but none of the boys looked up. Abi prodded Lily in the back and they made their way over to where Felicity and Mary had saved them seats.

"How on earth did they get here before us?" Abi asked in a puzzled tone. Lily just looked at her, completely stumped.

For the first time ever Lily couldn't wait for charms to end. Usually she enjoyed it (it was her second best lesson) but she was so distracted that she ended up completely mispronouncing the cheering charm they were practicing and making Suse burst into wails of despair. It took a large cheering charm from Flitwick to restore her and Lily ended up with more homework then anyone else.

Once again the marauders managed to elude her after class and though she waited and waited for them they never turned up for dinner. After dashing back to the common room Lily spent her time before her meeting with Dumbledore walking round and round the common room, when she wasn't dashing up to the boys dormitory just incase they had managed to slip past her yet again. Finally at a ten to nine a resigned Lily bid farewell to Suse and Abi (who promised faithfully to sit on any of the marauders if they showed themselves until she got back) and headed out the portrait hole. She walked smack into James Potter as he was climbing in. He clutched his head in pain and staggered back out of the hole, only to trip over Sirius and Peter who were climbing in after him.

"Where the hell have you been?" Lily blazed at them, ignoring James moans and the fact that both Sirius and Peter had fallen on the ground.

"Oh bugger" Sirius said as he looked up at her. "We thought you would have gone by now"

"What does that mean!" Lily said, feeling herself getting angrier by the second. "You were waiting for me to leave for my meeting with Dumbledore? So you have been avoiding me all day!"

"Now Evans.." Sirius began, trying on his most charming smile, "why don't you run along like a good little prefect. You don't want to be late for Dumbledore do you?"

"No I don't" Lily said and before any of them could move she yanked out her wand and with a , "_Petrificus totalus_!" she hexed all three boys, then breathing rather heavily said "but don't think your getting away with not talking to me". She turned round to see the portrait door had closed and the fat lady was looking at her wide eyed.

"Well Ms Evans I never would have thought that of you"

"Silverarrow" Lily said glaring at the portrait

"Are you going to just leave them there?"

"Silverarrow!"

"Yes okay, okay. I'll have to call someone if you leave them you know" the Fat Lady huffed as she swung open. Lily aimed her wand at the three frozen boys. Although none of them could move there was no hiding the looks of complete shock in their eyes.

"_Mobilacorpius_!" and to the amazement of every single Gryffindor still sitting in the common room (which was most of them) Lily Evans gently wafted in the frozen forms of three of the marauders. Using her wand she directed them forward until she could drop them in front of where Abi and Suse were sitting.

"Lily what…" Suse began weakly.

"Look after them would you" Lily said, a look of determination on her face. "Don't unfreeze them till I get back, I've got to run or I will be late for my meeting".

Abi started to laugh "Lily do you really want us to just leave them on the ground like that?"

"Yes" Lily said decisively "and when I get back we will be having a talk". She directed this at the three boys and with one final glare turned and ran out of the room. A great shout of laughter followed her as the rest of the common room reacted to what she had just done.

Feeling immensely pleased with herself Lily ran as fast as she could to Dumbledores office. She had scouted out the location earlier in the day and considering how late she knew she was running was extraordinarily glad she had. She finally skidded to a halt in front of the giant Griffon and managed to gasp out "Sherbert" as she held a hand to her aching ribs. The griffon leapt aside to reveal a giant spiraling staircase. Lily stepped on it and let it take her up and up till she reached a doorway. Hesitating a moment she made sure all her hair was patted into place and her robes were straightened before knocking.

There was a pause then a voice called out "Enter". Lily turned the handle and walked in.

"I'm so sorry I'm late Professor" she started to say before she noticed the person sitting in front of Dumbeldores desk. It was Remus and he STILL WASN'T LOOKING AT HER! Lily's temper flared up again in a instant and it was only with extreme self control (and the fact that Dumbledore was standing there watching) that she didn't hex Remus right then and there and drag him all the way back to Gryffindor Tower to join his statue friends.

"Please sit down Ms Evans" Dumbledore said his eyes twinkling as he indicated the chair next to Remus. For some reason Lily had the strange thought that he knew exactly what she had been thinking of doing. Face flushed she hastily took the offered chair and moved it slightly so she wouldn't have to look at Remus. She heard him shift slightly in his seat.

Dumbledore turned and took a seat behind his giant desk. For the first time Lily noticed her surroundings. The walls were covered in portraits of snoozing wizards and witches all with little plaques proclaiming them to be Hogwarts headmasters, and the years they taught. The shelves were filled with strange ornaments, some which smoked, some that constantly moved, none of which Lily actually recognized. On a giant stand next to Dumbledores desk stood a beautiful bird which Lily recognized as a phoenix with a rush of excitement. She'd never seen one before but they were just as beautiful as she had read and were meant to be immensely powerful.

"That is Fawkes" Dumbledore said, noticing where she was looking, "a long time companion of mine"

"He's beautiful" Lily whispered. Fawkes looked at her and made a soft crooning noise. The sound seemed to enter into her very bones and felt like a warm drop of honey that trickled down her insides. She felt the last of her anger leave her as beside her Remus gave a soft sigh.

"Now as to the reason I have called you here today. You have thus far being doing a wonderful job as prefect. The head boy and girl speak extraordinarily high of you, saying you never shirk your duties or misuse your prefect privileges" (Lily blushed, the fact that she had three hexed boys waiting frozen for her in Gryffindor Tower weighing on her mind). "However there is one facet of your duties that we have not yet covered which must be discussed tonight, giving your patrol duties tomorrow. I have talked it over with Mr Lupin and we have agreed that you can be trusted with a very important secret. Before we continue however I must have your solemn word that you will not breathe a whisper of anything we discuss here tonight". Dumbledore looked at her over his half-moon spectacles. "This is important Ms Evans and if you do not agree we will not go a step further".

Lily looked at him curiously. What secret could Remus and Dumbledore know together? And what did it have to do with her prefect duties? "I promise" she said. Dumbeldore smiled.

"Excellent. Mr Lupin would you like to continue?" Remus sighed and nodded. He fidgeted for a moment then opened his mouth. No sound came out. He closed it again. Several more times he looked like he was about to say something but nothing ever came. Lily leant forward.

"Remmie," she said softly "what's going…" he interrupted her quietly.

"When I was very little, no more then three something happened to me" he looked up, hesitantly, in to her eyes. "I was bitten by a werewolf".

Lily stared at him blankly. "What?" she asked, completely confused. The outrageousness of what Remus had told her seemed to have blind-sided her. All she could seem to do was sit and stare at him blankly.

"I'm a werewolf" he said quietly

_No_ Lily though. Images flashed through her mind, terrible images, the things they had been shown and learnt about werewolves only last year. How could Remus, sweet, caring, shy Remus possibly be one of those monsters? Her head started to shake from side to side.

She thought of Remus and all the time they had spent together, everything they had shared. _He never told me_ she thought in stunned shock. He was meant to be one of her best friends and he had been hiding this huge secret from her all along. Her mind felt like it was falling apart, a confusion of clashing thoughts and ideas. Everything she thought she knew about Remus and everything she had ever heard about werewolves made her head whirl till she thought she was going to be sick.

Remus leaned forward, looking concerned. "Lily" he said, reaching out to touch her hand. The sudden warmth of his grasp surprised Lily and she reflexively jerked her hand away.

Remus sat back, a look of bitter pain and hurt flashing across his features. Lily realized what she had done. She looked at Remus, at the pain she had caused him in that unconscious movement and her head seemed to clear in an instant. It no longer mattered that he had not confided in her before, or what it was that he was. In the brief flash of hurt she suddenly understood everything about Remus. The tremendous difficulty of living each day knowing that there was something inside you, something evil, that you couldn't control. The pain that Remus surely must have experienced, of being rejected for what he was. Another memory sparked and as if it was only yesterday Lily could hear her fourth year defense teacher as he once more explained to the class how excruciatingly agonizing the change was for a werewolf. Pain equal to that experienced when hit by the cruciatus curse.

Lily looked at Remus and tears welled in her eyes as she imagined him, one of her best friends, and the agonizing torment he must go through every month. _They must shut him away_, she realized dully, _they shut him away and leave him all alone too suffer in agony as he transforms into a monster, because he's too dangerous to be around_. She looked at Remus, at the closed expression on his face, the hunched aspect to his shoulders and realized how much she had hurt him. He thought in that one moment of startled reflex she had rejected him, because of something he couldn't control.

She felt the tears in her eyes begin to slip down her face and the next thing she knew she had flung herself on him. Her tears felt like they were scorching her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his shoulders.

"I'm sorry Remus" she sobbed. "I'm so, so sorry". She cried in uncontrollable gulps for him, for dear, sweet Remus and the terrible thing that had been done to the most wonderful of people. She felt Remus hesitate for a moment, then his arms flew around her and he was squeezing her so tightly that she almost couldn't breathe. When she finally got herself under control and leaned back she was surprised to see his own eyes were wet.

Abruptly remembering where they were Lily made to go back to her own seat. As she did Remus grabbed her hand and gave it another, ever-so-tight squeeze. She managed to coax up a smile just for him. He looked at her with an expression of almost disbelieving gratitude.

Dumbledore was beaming at them. "Excellent, excellent, I was certain Mr Lupin made the right choice when he said you could be trusted. Now as to the reason why you have been told. Tomorrow of course you are expected to undertake your prefect patrol with Mr Lupin. The problem is however that tomorrow night is…"

"… a full moon" Lily finished softly. She looked at Remus with sympathy. Once more she noticed how unwell he was looking. This time she knew that it was because it was approaching the time of the werewolf moon.

"Precisely" continued Dumbledore. "Now if you had not agreed to keep this secret or Mr Lupin thought you could not be trusted then you would simply have been given some excuse for his absence. As it is we are asking that you instead cover for Mr Lupin and pretend that all is normal". Lily nodded. "Now once again it is vitally important that you reveal this to no-one. It is an unfortunate circumstance in this world that very few people are able to understand as we do that turning into a monster does not necessarily make you one. I'm sure Ms Evans you would agree with me when I say there is no one more reliable or safer then young Mr Lupin". Lily nodded vehemently. It was perfectly true, even first years were comfortable talking to Remus when they were shy even around her. He just gave off an aura of compassion and understanding.

"Now at this time, apart from the other teachers, only you and Mr Lupin know of his condition. Oh and of course Mr Potter, Mr Black and Mr Pettigrew".

Remus jerked in his chair, his face going white. "How did you know.."

"That your friends had figured out your condition?" Dumbledore said. "I had always wondered whether they might. Mr Potter and Mr Black are known for their inquisitive minds and Mr Pettigrew pays rather a lot of attention to what's happening around him. I've kept my eye on them for years and my suspicions were confirmed after the incident between Mr Black and Mr Aubrey"

Lily nodded as comprehension dawned. She too remembered that incident. It had happened during a defense against the dark arts class in fourth year, the same class where they had learned about werewolves. Sirius and Betram Aubrey had got into a shouting match in the middle of class, with Betram insisting that all werewolves were monsters and should be slaughtered. Sirius had ended up so enraged that he cursed Betram right then and there. Betram had had to go to the hospital wing and Sirius got a month worth of detention. He had been joined by James and Peter Lily remembered, after it turned out the two boys had hidden in a disused classroom outside of the hospital wing and hexed Betram as soon as he emerged. These days it was a well known fact that Aubrey was the marauders favorite target, after Slytherins.

Lily couldn't help but smile to herself as she and Remus listened to Dumbledores instructions on how they would help keep Remus's condition a secret. At last they were free to go and traveled in companionable silence back to Gryffindor Tower. As they neared the portrait hole Remus grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her to one side.

"You're sure you're okay with all this?" he asked, a hint of concern in his eyes. Lily smiled and gave him a huge hug.

"It's like Dumbledore said Remmie. Your one of the best people out there. How could I not be okay?" He grinned at her and shook his head.

"James is right you know. You truly are a remarkable person Lily". Lily rolled her eyes at the mention of James but smiled all the same. She looped her arm back through Remus's and together they walked to the portrait hole. Once inside Lily let go and on an impulse gave Remus a quick kiss on the cheek before wishing him goodnight. She waved cheerfully at Abi and Suse, where they were still sitting doing homework and told them she'd see them upstairs.

"Um Lily?" Abi's voice followed her. "Don't you think your forgetting something?"

"What?" Lily said curiously as she walked over. Remus followed her and gave a great shout of laughter as he saw where Abi was pointing. There on the ground, still frozen, where Peter, James and Sirius.

"Oh.." said Lily biting her bottom lip, "whoops".


	5. Trials and Horrors

_Okay the next chapter is here! I will try and make sure I don't leave to long a time between updates but unfortunately I'm going to be pretty busy over the next couple of months setting up for my PhD and moving so I cant make guarantees._

_Thanks so much to Yvonne Park, Sheridan, cannotstopwriting and KaceyO for your wonderful reviews, aswell as everyone who has added me to your favourite's list. I never anticipated I'd get such a wonderful response._

_As always I don't have a beta so I apologise for any mistakes. I'm also not JKR. I don't have the accent to pull that off._

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**- Trials and Horrors -**

The day of Quidditch trials dawned bright and cheerful. Lily woke up early to find Abi sitting on the edge of her bed, holding her broom and looking deathly pale.

All four girls decided to walk Abi down to breakfast, offering her moral support. They had had just got down to the common room when an equally pale Frank appeared at the bottom of the boys dormitory steps, clutching his own broom.

"Hey Frank!" Lily said cheerfully. "Are you trying out for the Quidditch team then? Abi is as well!". Frank and Abi shared nervous glances as Frank nodded.

"What position?" Suse asked curiously.

"Chaser" Frank said, his voice coming out as a mere croak. The girls exchanged glances then Lily and Abi walked over and looped their arms through Franks.

"Come on down to breakfast with us Frank" Abi said with a shaky smile. "We can share nerves". Frank nodded mutely trying and completely failing to smile. Together all six of them walked down together to the Great Hall, Frank, Lily and Abi in the lead. They had just got to the entrance hall when Lily heard her name being called.

"Lily!" they turned round to see Alice and Amelia walking towards them.

"Hey Alice, Amelia" Lily said with a smile. Alice and Amelia looked surprised as they saw the brooms Abi and Frank were holding.

"Are you guys trying out for the Gryffindor team?" Amelia said, looking impressed.

"Course they are dummy" Alice said smiling, "Why else would they have brooms. Abi might use hers too goof off but Frank at least isn't the type to go zooming around the castle for no reason" she winked at Frank as she said this. Lily smothered a smile as Frank went from pale white to bright pink in seconds. Seemingly unable to talk he merely nodded before finally unfreezing enough to say.

"Yep, quidditch". Lily distinctly heard the smothered giggles behind her and quickly changed the subject.

"What are you girls doing up so early?"

"Oh shoot!" Alice said, "I completely forgot. We are supposed to be meeting some of the guys right after breakfast for a study date! We'd better go". She grabbed Amelias hand and dragged her off into the Great Hall as Amelia waved goodbye to everyone, rolling her eyes at her friends enthusiasm. Frank stared after them looking extremely disgruntled. As they started to walk forward again Lily tried to regain his attention. She was well aware of how much the rest of the girls were watching him and wanted to try and save him before he exposed too much of his rather obvious feelings for Alice.

"So Frank... why did you decide to go for chaser? I've never seen you at try outs before?"

"Hmm?" Frank said, dragging his eyes away from where he had last seen Alice. "I… er.. well…" he seemed completely distracted, continuously glancing towards the nearing hall as they walked. After a moment he lapsed back into silence. A small frown formed between his brows.

"Frank look out!" Suse yelled, a moment before he walked straight into a suit of armor standing by the wall. The was a resounding crash as Frank hit it and sent it tumbling to the ground, on top of him.

"Oh no!" Lily said and she and Suse ran forward to help him.

"Ow" Frank said, as he struggled to remove the armor. Suse pulled out her wand and swished it through the air.

"_Wingardium leviosa_" the armor floated it up into the air and away from Frank following Suse careful wand movements. Mary had hurried over to join them and pulled out her own wand, muttering '_Reparo_'. The armor pulled itself back into its original stance. Lily meanwhile bent over to help Frank.

"Are you okay?" she asked in concern.

"I'm fine" a beat red Frank muttered. His eyes darted to the hall yet again. "Just a bit embarrassed, I hope that… no one saw me". Lily suppressed a grin.

"Don't worry" she whispered as Frank took her hand and she pulled him up. "I'm sure that 'no one' is safely seated at the Hufflepuff table by now". Frank looked up in surprise, then down at the ground again.

"Thanks Lily" he whispered. She winked at him and they rejoined the rest of the girls. When they entered the Great Hall Frank spotted some of his friends sitting down to breakfast. He thanked the girls for walking him down to breakfast and rescuing him from 'the mad armor' and went to join them.

The girls sat further down the table and Felicia and Mary immediately began gossiping about the possibility of Frank and Alice as a couple. Abi looked like she couldn't speak because if she opened her mouth she would vomit. Lily and Suse remained out of the discussion. They both knew Frank really well, largely because of Lily tutoring him, and didn't feel the need to gossip over his potential girlfriend choices.

After nagging Abi to eat something for half an hour, and finally forcing half a slice of toast down her throat, Lily saw Frank and his friends get up ready to go down to the Pitch. "Do you want to head down now Abs?" she asked.

For a moment Abi looked terrified, then she suddenly set her jaw and nodded, looking completely determined. "Let's go" she said firmly, rising from her seat, but not before she had a swig of pumpkin juice and stuffed the second half of her toast into her mouth. Suse laughed at Lily's exasperated expression. Felicia and Mary elected once more to go with them and so the group of girls made their way out into the entrance hall right behind Frank and his friends, who had obviously decided to give him their moral support.

The day outside was gorgeous, especially for early October, and Lily gave a happy sigh as they walked out into the grounds. "Hey Lils, look who it is" Mary suddenly said giggling, as she pointed down towards the quidditch stands. "Looks like he might be looking for someone".

Smothering a groan Lily squinted through the bright sunshine glare. Sure enough James Potter was standing by the quidditch pitch entrance, clutching his own broom. He seemed to be explaining something with great intensity to the three marauders standing in front of him. Lily saw Remus shrug and say something. James ran his hand through his hair in frustration. He'd obviously been doing this a lot as it stuck at all angles from his head, like some grotesque porcupine. Lily saw him glance frantically up at the castle once more, although Lily and her friends were fortunately hidden partially by some trees. He ran his hand through his hair again.

Remus said something else to James, looking exasperated then he and a widely yawning Peter left for the stands. Sirius remained but he looked distinctly bored. James looked back at the castle once more, wringing his hands around his broom.

Suddenly Lily grinned mischievously. She had a very good idea what it was that was upsetting Potter this morning. "I'll see you in the stands" she said brightly to the girls. "You'll be ace Abs!"

"Lily where are you…" Abi started to say surprised, but quieted down when Lily shot her a distinctive look and winked. It was obvious that Lily had something amusing in mind.

Lily sped up and managed to catch up with Frank just before he came in clear site of the Quidditch Pitch. She slipped her arm through his and smiled brightly up at him. "So how you feeling Frank? Didn't bruise anything when the armor fell on you"

He looked at her in appraising surprise. "As much as Id love to think you were here for my well fare Lily I very much doubt it. Besides I would have thought you would have wanted to be with Abi, giving her all your support". They came out of the last of the trees and in clear site of the Pitch and more importantly James and Sirius. Frank laughed, "Or would your coming to see me have nothing to do with me and everything to do with the hang dog expression that just appeared on Potters face?"

Lily smiled sheepishly up at him. "Sorry Frank, I didn't mean to try and trick you, its just that well.. you know…"

"The infamous Lily Evans and James Potter war continues" Frank concluded smiling. "You know what they say Lily, it's better to make love then war, and from Potters expression I can tell which one he'd prefer".

"Frank!" Lily squealed in outraged laughter and thumped him in the side with her free hand. They were both laughing as they passed by a stunned James and a smirking Sirius into the Quidditch stands.

"Well milady" Frank said, letting Lily's arm drop. "This is where I leave you". He grabbed her hand and kissed it, giving her a wink as she looked startled. "Just one more for show" he laughed, as Lily grinned back at him. "Seriously though" he added in an undertone, "'if I make the team do you mind if I let slip that you were just making sure I didn't walk into anything else before trials, or something like that?" He grinned cheerfully "I don't really fancy my fellow chaser continuously trying to hex me throughout practice". Lily laughed.

"I suppose that's okay". Frank winked at her again and left for the pitch. Lily stayed where she was waiting for the girls to catch up. They finally made it and all the girls gave Abi one last tight hug. She no longer looked nervous or determined, but rather overwhelmingly excited.

"Thank guys!" she beamed. "This is going to be great". She gave them a huge wave as she positively bounced off towards the pitch, leaving the girls giggling at her behavior behind her.

They made their way into the stands, Lily in the lead. She spotted a tired looking Remus and an apparently sleeping Peter sitting not so far away and went to join them. Remus had been looking distinctly better since the full moon, but today his eyes were blood-shot and he looked worn out.

"Hey" Lily said, as she sat next to him. "You look terrible!" Remus grimaced at her.

"Thanks. You would too if Prongs hustled you out of bed at five in the morning so he could have an early breakfast and be down at the pitch two hours before anyone else".

"What? Why?" Suse exclaimed.

"To make sure he saw who was so important that Miss Lily Evans had raved about them and their quidditch try out all week of course" Remus said drolly. Lily went pink.

"I'm so sorry Remus" she said guiltily "I didn't mean for the rest of you to be dragged into this. It was just a joke really". She clocked an eye at the apparently still sleeping Peter and leant in conspiratorially to Remus. "Just between you and me, mainly because I just made a big show of walking in with Frank, I'm really here to see Abi. She's trying out for the beater position".

"Good to know" a voice said behind them making them both jump. Sirius had walked up so silently that hadn't even heard his approach. He eased himself into a seat between Felicia and Mary. "Maybe now Prongs will let me get some sleep, instead of keeping me up half the night raving on about the imbeciles of Gryffindor Tower and how they were all unworthy of the gorgeous Lily".

"Well he obviously thinks very highly of himself then" Lily snapped. "If he thinks he's better then every other Gryffindor and I should be dating him".

"So you agree then" Sirius said with a lazy wink. "You think you're gorgeous". Lily turned red with anger and embarrassment and looked away. Sirius smiled at Mary and Felicia. "I'm completely beat. Do you girls mind if I use one of your shoulders as a pillow?" Both girls giggled and shook their head. Lily rolled her eyes and Suse gave a snort of disbelief.

The stands around them slowly filled as more and more Gryffindors made their way from the castle to watch or participate in tryouts. Finally it reached 9 o'clock and it was time to start. From their position in the stands they could see both Abi and Frank in a group of other hopefuls. Facing them was the previous years remaining quidditch team, standing a little bit behind the team captain, Fabian Prewett. Fabians twin brother, Gideon, was the head boy and Lily could see him sitting not too far away, there to support his brother.

Fabian was clearly saying something to the hopefuls that they couldn't hear from up in the stands. The mystery was shortly explained however as the group separated into two smaller groups. One group was distinctly larger then the other and it was too this one that Frank walked. Abi made her way over to the smaller one. From up in the stands Lily watched as James and his fellow chaser, a seventh year girl by the name of Gillies Toater looked over the larger group. They were obviously comparing opinions as James had a rarely seen serious look on his face and was writing things on a clipboard before him.

Similarly the beaters group were being watched over by sixth year Tony Halwkins, the remaining beater on the Gryffindor team. Fabian came over to him and after talking briefly Tony and the prospective beaters left the pitch, to sit on the sidelines. It was obvious that the chasers would be trialing first.

Lily found herself watching James closely throughout the trials. He seemed to pay strict attention through out all of them, without showing any of his usual behavior of goofing off or trying to get attention. Instead he hovered casually on his broomstick and appeared to take copious notes on the performance of every person who trialed. Beside her Lily could hear the marauders comparing notes on performance as well. By the end of the try outs everyone agreed that it was a close tie between three contenders. Fourth years Hannah Townsend and Dorcas Meadows and surprise entry second year Dylan Halberry. Frank had done quite well but was not up to the intense skill displayed by these three.

Finally the chasers left the field and it was time for beater trials. Lily watched the trials with bated breath, silently wishing bad luck on everyone who took to the air before Abi. When it came to Abi's turn Lily crossed all of her fingers for luck. She needn't have bothered. Abi was amazing in the air, hitting the bludgers with precise precision. By the end of trials there was no doubt that she was the best among all who trialed. The girls stayed in the stands long enough to hear Fabian say that the results of the trials would be posted on the Gryffindor Common Room wall that evening before they ran down to the pitch.

A slightly mud splattered Abi ran up to them as soon as she saw them, a hug grin on her face. "Oh my gosh, that was soo much fun!" she gushed.

"You were awesome Abi!" Lily squealed, giving her friend a huge hug. Abi squeezed her back just as tightly, only to let go and get smooshed in a hug by Suse.

"Hey Morgan!" a voice yelled, and they all turned round to see Sirius, Remus and Peter making their way over. Sirius winked at Abi, "Nice try outs. I never knew you were so good in the air"

"There's a lot you don't know about me Black" Abi said pertly, turning away to respond to congratulations from Mary and Felicia. Sirius continued to stare at Abi and only looked away when he realized Lily was watching him. The faintest hint of pink crept up his face and Lily grinned mischievously. Could Sirius Black, Mr I-Am-What-Women-Want, actually be crushing on her best friend?

She turned away from Sirius just in time to see James break away from a conversation with the rest of his team and walk over. "That was awesome Morgan" he said enthusiastically, shaking her hand. He glanced around and seeing that they were one of the few groups still left on the pitch leant forward in a low voice and said, "Don't say anything till its formally announced but the teams already decided. Your our new Beater". An incredulous look of surprised joy broke out on Abi's face and almost spontaneously it seemed she hugged James.

"Thank you so much" she said excitedly. He laughed and affectionately mussed up her hair.

"Don't thank me mighty midget. You're the one who showed the team exactly how good you are". Abi looked surprised at his affectionate tussle but grinned appreciatively. Lily found herself looking away. Seeing James… man-handle Abi that way irritated her for some reason.

……………………………………………………

The girls stayed up late that night celebrating but much too her disgust Lily found herself wide awake early the next day. After tossing and turning for what felt like hours she eventually got up and got dressed. She considered waking Abi and Suse to see if they wanted to go down too breakfast with her but after a tentative poke on made Abi moan and sink completely under her sheets Lily decided not.

She had barely made it to the bottom of the stairs however when someone called her name. She looked up to see a sleepy looking Mary running down after her.

"Hey" she said surprised. She had thought Mary was deeply asleep when she left the room.

"Hey " Mary said in a chipper voice, apparently a lot more awake then she appeared. "I was just coming back from the bathroom when I saw you. I don't think 'Licia is going to be getting up anytime soon, so do you mind if I go to breakfast with you?"

"Course not" Lily said smiling. "Any company is welcome. I don't think I could have got either Abs or Suse out of bed without a crowbar this morning". Mary laughed and for a moment Lily reflected how nice it was to talk to another muggleborn girl for a change. For once she didn't have to explain what a crowbar was, or how it worked. She looped her arm through Mary's and the two girls left the common room together. If Lily had of known what was going to happen next she would have stayed in bed.

Everything was fine till they reached the second floor. It was still reasonably early so they didn't meet anyone as they traversed the corridors. They had just walked down the last of the stairs when Avery and Mulciber came walking up the passageway. "Out of the way mudbloods!" Mulciber said rudely.

"Five points from Slytherin for language" Lily said in a bored tone.

"Five points from Gryffindor, for having dirty blood Evans" Avery shot back and Lily glared at him.

"Come on Lily" Mary said, tugging on her arm. "There's no point. You know you'll just keep taking points till there aren't any left in either Slytherin or Gryffindor". Still angry Lily allowed Mary to start to pull her away.

"That's right run away little mudbloods. I wonder will you also just run away like inbred cowards when the Dark Lord kills your filthy muggle parents?" Mulciber sneered.

Lily swung back around, gripping her wand, opening her mouth to curse Mulciber but Mary was quicker then that. "Your one to talk Mulciber" she said mildly. "If Severus Snape was here you'd be too scared to even look at Lily. Everyone knows that your terrified to go up against him after what he did to you last time. Imagine that, a pure blood, scared of a half-blood. Your mother must die of shame". The scorn in her tone was evident and determinedly she turned her back on purple faced Mulciber, looping her arm through Lily's once more. Lily looked at her in admiration as they walked away. Mary was usually so quiet that Lily had never imagined she had that in her.

She just opened her mouth to congratulate Mary when she heard Mulciber scream out a curse behind them. She whipped back around, wand raised but it was too late. Whatever it was had already struck Mary full in the back. Lily looked on in horror as blood began to trickle from Mary's eyes, nose and mouth.

Mary slowly raised one hand to wipe the blood that was starting to flow strongly down her face. "Lily?" she half whispered, half choked as more blood spat from her mouth straight into Lily's face. The next instant Mary collapsed, writhing violently on the ground as blood streamed from every orifice.

"NO!" Lily screamed, dropping to her knees beside Mary, trying to somehow hold her still as Mary's blood soaked her robes. "Mary! Mary!" she looked around desperately. "Help me! Someone help". Vainly she tried to pick Mary up but she was too heavy and was writhing too uncontrollably. Laughter reached her ears and in shock she looked up to see Avery and Mulciber practically collapsing with laughter. "You bastards!" she screamed, picking up her wand where she had dropped it. "Stop it! Make it stop or I swear I will kill you!"

"Lily?" a shocked voice asked and she looked up to see that Remus and Peter had just walked down the same stairs as she and Mary had. Remus looked shocked and Peter horribly frightened as they stared at Mary's shaking bleeding form by Lilys feet. Mulciber and Avery took one look at Lily's reinforcements and took off back the way they had come.

"Stop them" Lily pleaded. "They have to save Mary". Remus and Peter immediately ran after them both sets of boys disappearing round the corner. Lily held her friend to her, tears running down her face as Mary's shudders started to get weaker and weaker. She was so scared that she could barely think. She had no idea what curse it was that Mulciber had used, and no idea how to stop it.

As though from very far away a distant memory seemed to come to her, slowly flowing into her mind. She remembered once walking down a corridor with Cade and seeing him hit with a hex by James from behind. It had completely rebounded from him because he had protected himself with an anti-jinx spell. He had told her what it was as well. _What was it, what was it…_ Lily strained her memory frantically. Then all of a sudden it hit her and she pointed her wand at Mary. "_Salvio hexia!"_ she incanted. Nothing happened. Lily dropped her head as more tears fell onto Mary, mixing with the blood still flowing.

Except it wasn't flowing. Lily blinked, trying to clear the tears from her eyes. The blood had definitely stopped flowing. "Mary" Lily whispered. "Mary can you hear me?" as the tremors also began to slow. Finally they stopped and Mary gave a rattling gasp and was still. "Oh god" Lily said. "Mary, Mary" she shook her friend, gently then harder as more tears flowed down her face. "Don't be dead Mary" she whispered, holding her friend close to her. "Please don't be dead"

"Lily!" a voice yelled, and a panting, exhausted looking Remus came running back up the hall. He skidded to a halt beside the two of them. "They got away. I'm so sorry but they managed to get into the Slytherin common room and we couldn't follow them in there. Peters gone to get Madam Pomfrey…" his voice trailed away as he saw the tears streaking bloody tracks down Lily's face, the unnatural stillness of Mary's body. His eyes widened in shock. "Lily is she…?"

"I don't know Remus" Lily whispered as she rocked Marys blood soaked body against her. "I don't know"


	6. Losing Grip

_Hmm it seems I'm an absolute sucker when it comes to reviewies asking me to put up my next post. I wasn't going to put up this chapter until I finished the chapter I'm currently working on (Chapter 9) as I want to keep a little space between what I've already written and what I'm currently written. And yet here I am posting early. AGAIN :D_

_Thanks to my reviewers, your great. As always I lack a beta so I'm sorry for any mistakes._

**CHAPTER FIVE**

**- Losing Grip -**

Lily was numb. She stared blankly ahead, feeling like she was in a mist, lost to everything around her. She wasn't aware of anything from the fact that she was sitting down, leaning against the wall, to Remus very gently taking her hand. She barely seemed to be breathing as she gazed vacantly ahead unblinking. All she could see, all she could feel was the blood pouring down Mary's body and the feel of her friend shaking in her arms. Over and over again she heard Mary's final gasp, saw her body become eerily still.

Footsteps sounded. Remus looked up from where he held Lily. Running towards them were Peter, James and Sirius, leading the frightened looking figures of Abi, Suse and Felicia. He tried to smile as they came near but it quickly faded as the group got their first glimpse of Lily. She was covered head to foot in blood, some of it dried, some still damp. Her hair was clumped oddly, stuck to her face which looked like she had covered in tribal lines. These lines were the only clean places on her entire face, made by the tears that had streaked down it.

Felicia rocked to a halt. She looked deathly pale, completely terrified, as she stared at on of her friends, drenched in the blood of her best friend. Her legs gave out under her and she collapsed to the ground as her bottom lip began to tremble. Sirius and James gently leaned down and helped her too her feet. When she seemed unable to walk Sirius scooped her into his arms and carried her.

Abi and Suse hesitantly approached Remus and Lily. Suse sat down next to Lily as Abi knelt in front of her. Gently Abi reached out and started un sticking the hair from Lily's face. Suse wrapped her arms around Lily's body, ignoring the blood, as Abi and Remus did.

"Lily?" Abi said softly. Lily didn't respond but just kept staring blankly ahead. She saw Mary fall, saw the blood pouring, heard her own voice bleeding, heard Mary gasp, saw her become still…

"She's in shock" Remus said softly, "I cant get her too respond".

"Oh Lily" Abi said softly, as Suse smothered a sob and hugged Lily even tighter. Lily blinked.

"I couldn't make it stop" she whispered suddenly, in a voice that barely seemed to work. "She just kept bleeding and I couldn't make it stop. I couldn't stop the blood…" Felicia burst into tears as Suse sobbed harder and a single tear rolled down Abi's cheek. She pulled Lily to her, wrapping her in her arms, rocking her like a baby. Lily clung to her but did not cry and did not speak again.

They waited for what seemed like a millennia. Abi continued to rock Lily, and Sirius held Felicia who held him close and cried continually into his shoulders. Remus and Suse stayed where they were, on either side of Lily and Abi. James paced back and forth in front of them, occasionally he would stop and stare at the hospital wing door, before pacing again. Even rarer he would turn his back to them, pull out something and examine it. He never let them see what it was but it obviously showed him what was going on inside, as he always reported that Madam Pomfrey, Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Professor Diggle (their defense against the dark arts professor) were still working away.

The creak of the door opening seemed unnaturally loud in the silence. They all looked up, even Lily. James stopped mid-pace, one leg stuck stupidly in the air. It was only when Sirius gave a quick hiss of "Prongs!" that James blinked and put it down. Dumbledore appeared in the doorway. The world seemed to come rushing back for Lily. She stared up at Dumbledore in a kind of breathless horror. Dumbledore looked down at them his face more serious and sadder then they had ever seen before. McGonagall came rushing past him muttering, "I'll send an owl to her parents Albus. They'll need to be told". They watched her go and as one turned wordless back to Professor Dumbledore. Eight pairs of beseeching eyes stared up at him. Lily felt her eyes stinging but no more tears could come.

Professor Dumbledore gave a sad smile. "Ms McDonald, although suffering from severe blood loss, and organ bruising will be fine". A great gasp of joy escaped from them. Abi and Suse hugged Lily tightly while the marauders cheered loudly. Felicia dissolved into more tears, but this time they were tears of joy. Dumbledore bent down and gently pulled Lily to her feet. "I want to thank you Miss Evans. It was your quick action, casting the repelling jinx that saved Ms McDonalds life. If she had of suffered from the curse any longer we would not have been able to reverse the effects. As it is Miss McDonald will make a complete recovery, although she will have to spend the next couple of weeks taking blood replenishing and transfusion potions as well as a series of spells to help fix the bruising through her organs. I think fifty points for Gryffindor should be rewarded in your honor". Lily smiled faintly but said nothing.

"Can we go see her Professor?" Felicia asked eagerly. Dumbledore smiled and shook his head. "She's sleeping right now and Madam Pomfrey said she won't be ready for guests for a couple of days yet. I will make sure to tell Madam Pomfrey to let her know that you all were here and wanted to see her. I'm sure she will appreciate knowing all her friends were here."

Footsteps came hurrying back up the passageway. It was McGonagall with a tawny owl swaying on her shoulder. "I'm just about to send the owl to Miss McDonald's family" McGonagall said in a business like tone. "Would you like to add anything to the report Albus?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Inform her parents that I will be visiting them within the hour to personally report Miss McDonald's progress. I'll just have Emmeline hook them up to the floo network temporarily.

McGonagall nodded. She waved her wand so that her quill quickly jotted Dumbledore's extra message, then sealed it with a tap of her wand. The owl on her shoulder held out its leg and she quickly tied on the message. "Take this to Bert and Fran McDonald, Albury Lane" she instructed the owl. The owl gave a serene hoot and took off. Briskly now McGonagall turned back to the waiting Gryffindors. "Miss Evans I want to tell you how proud I am of your quick actions this morning. I think now however it would be best if your friends escorted you to the Gryffindor common room to wash and change".

"One moment Minerva" Dumbledore said holding up a hand. "I will be wanting a word with Miss Evans in my office first. There are some details that we have not yet been able to discuss, considering the quickness needed in order to stabilize Mary McDonald". For a moment McGonagall looked like she wanted to object but finally she nodded.

"Very well Albus, if you think that is best. In the mean time" and her expression turned severe. "I will escort the rest of you," and for some reason she seemed to be directing her words directly at James and Sirius, "directly to the tower where, since it is a weekend, I expect you to find ways to spend the rest of your day. There will be, and do not want to have to repeat this, no attempts of revenge on the perpetrators of this incident of any kind".

"What?!" James said, sounding annoyed.

"Come off it Professor!" Sirius yelled. McGonagall's lips thinned.

"I mean it Mr. Potter, Mr. Black. If I hear one whisper of action taken against either Mr. Avery or Mr. Mulciber, no matter how much you may think they deserve it, I will immediately put the both of you in detention for a month and deduct twenty points from Gryffindor!" As Sirius and James expression darkened she said "this is a matter that will be handled by the headmasters and the head of houses. We will punish the perpetrators as we feel is needed, without the added help of a bunch of fifteen year old boys!" and now she flicked her gaze at both Remus and Peter. The boys looked mutinous. "Do we have an understanding?" there was a silence then in the same hoarse voice she used before Lily said quietly

"They do. The boys promise they won't do anything" the marauders looked at her in stunned silence. May be it was seeing her, withdrawn, blood soaked but with the faintest hint of her usual determination flickering in her eyes that did it but after a moment James Potter sighed.

"I promise"

"So do I" said Remus quietly as Peter nodded. They all turned to Sirius who looked mutinous but eventually said

"Fine, I promise. But only because Lily wants it and she's been through enough today".

For a moment it almost looked like McGonagall wanted to smile but she managed to suppress it. "Very well. Miss Evans I expect you to come straight to Gryffindor tower after your meeting with the headmaster. The rest of you, come with me now".

"Um Professor?" Suse said timidly. "I was just wondering could one of us perhaps go with Lily?" she looked slightly embarrassed as McGonagall raised her eyebrows at her. "You know as protection on her way back to the tower? I mean you've made James and the others swear not to cause trouble but no one has made Avery or Mulciber swear yet, and they may try something on Lily" the others looked on in surprised comprehension.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled "That's very kind of you Ms Williams but I don't think it will be necessary," he raised a hand, "however to ensure that there is no need to worry I myself will personally escort Miss Evans back to the tower". A smile flickered on the edge of his lips. "I trust that you will find my protection satisfactory?" Suse turned red and nodded as the others laughed. It started off as a quiet chuckle but the sense of relief soon turned it into a roar of laughter. Dumbledore joined in with a chuckle and even Lily managed a smile.

Eventually McGonagall started herding the still giggling fifth years towards Gryffindor Tower. Lily followed Dumbledore through the corridors towards his office. He didn't speak at all, which Lily was grateful for. She had a lot to think about. Her mind went over everything that had happened since she got up that morning. Every detail seemed extra clear in her mind. She replayed again, the last conversation she had had with McGonagall, the promise she had extracted from the marauders. Her brow furrowed in determination. She didn't want the boys to get revenge for what happened to Mary. She was going to do it herself.

Finally they reached Dumbledore's office. Lily sat down at Dumbledore's gesture in the same chair she had last time. As she did she felt a strange disorientation. Would she always find herself sitting in this seat because of a traumatic event?

Dumbledore sat down at his desk and steepled his fingers. "Now Miss Evans, I need you to recount for me exactly what happened" Lily looked up at him reproachfully. "It will be difficult I know, but you must trust me. You will feel better afterwards. What you saw, what happened to you is like a poison. The longer you keep it in the more it will twist you, warping you beyond all comprehension".

Lily stared at him for a long moment. Finally she began, "Mary and I were going down to breakfast. We ran into Mulciber and Avery on the first floor. We argued." Now that she had started she found it was easier and easier to talk. It was like a weight, a heavy burden was draining out of her. "Mulciber called Mary and I mud bloods. I docked five points from Slytherin for it. Avery took five points from me for having dirty blood. Mary told me to leave it, that it wasn't worth it. Mulciber… Mulciber made some comment about dirty blood and our parents being killed. I… I turned around to curse him…" her voice broke. "Mary intervened. She, she said something to Mulciber about, about the fact he wouldn't come near me if Sev was around. That they were scared of a half-blood. Turned their words against them." She sobbed. "I was so proud of her. We started to walk away. Mulciber shouted something I don't know what, a curse of some kind. It hit Mary". She fell silent.

There wasn't a thing said for a long moment then came the sound of flurrying wings. The phoenix that Lily had seen the first time she was in Dumbledore's office, Fawkes, landed on Lily's shoulder. She started in surprise, looking up into its beautiful face. The phoenix met her gaze squarely. A soft noise crooned out of its throat. The note seemed to hang in the air, filling Lily with the courage to continue.

"She started bleeding. From everywhere. There was moment, just a moment when she turned to look at me. She said my name. Then she collapsed onto the floor and started shaking like mad. The bleeding got worse."

"Is that when Mr. Lupin and Pettigrew joined you?" Dumbledore said softly.

Lily looked surprised but nodded. "I'd tried to get Mulciber to reverse the spell but he just laughed. Then Remus and Peter showed up. Mulciber and Avery took off, Remus and Peter ran after them. Mary was… Mary was bleeding really badly now, it was, it was everywhere. I couldn't make it stop. Then I remembered something Cade," she looked up at Dumbledore, "Cade Hennings, told me. It's a spell, an anti-jinx, _Salvio hexia_. I cast is on Mary. It worked. The bleeding stopped but she was… she was so still. I thought she was dead". Tears threatened but Fawkes gave another croon and Lily felt the pressure in her chest ease again.

Dumbledore stood up. He walked over to the fireplace, grabbed some powder from a small jar and threw it into the flames, turning them green. "Horace" he called "a word please". There was a moments pause then the over large figure of Professor Slughorn appeared revolving in the fire. He steadied and stepped out, brushing some lunch crumbs from his waist coat as he did so.

"What is it Albus?" he said, portentously. "I was just in the middle of…" he rocked to a halt as he caught sight of Lily, who was still covered in dried blood. "My goodness! Miss Evans what on earth happened to you!"

"That's why I called you Horace" said Dumbledore, looking severe. "There has been an incident between two of your Slytherin fifth years and Miss Mary McDonald. Please take a seat." Slughorn took the spare seat, still looking at Lily, as though unable to remove his eyes from her rather horrifying visage. "Early this morning Miss McDonald was cursed by Mr. Mulciber. Mr. Avery and Miss Evans were also present. Miss McDonald is currently resting in the hospital wing. If it wasn't for Miss Evans quick action it is highly doubtful she would have survived."

Slughorn took a quick, horrified gasp, transferring his gaze to Dumbledore. "What… how?"

"She was hit with the blood-letting curse Horace" Dumbledore said quietly. Horace's eyes widened and he looked at Lily in comprehension.

"What's… what's the blood-letting curse Professor?" Lily asked quietly.

"The blood-letting jinx was originally designed as a jinx to cause blood to flow from the eyes and mouth. It's mainly used by wizards for plays and the like. It was designed as an effect, non-lethal. By adding an extra incantation the jinx becomes a curse. One that if not stopped can kill"

"Albus" Slughorn interrupted in a blustering voice. "This cant be right. It must be a mistake, a simple mistake. Perhaps Mulciber only meant it as a jinx, a joke, poorly constructed its true but not harmful"

"They didn't mean it as a joke!" Lily said sharply, glaring at Slughorn who looked extremely taken aback. Before this Lily had never shown him anything more then utmost respect. "They saw what it was doing to her and they did nothing. She was dying and they just, they just laughed." Her voice dropped to a whisper.

"You will be sure to adequately punish Mulciber and Avery" Dumbledore said in a deceptively mild tone of voice. His expression said otherwise, Dumbledore was clearly furious. Lily felt her affection and respect grow for her headmaster as Slughorn dropped his head and looked at the ground.

"Of course Albus, of course" he said. Abruptly he got to his feet. "I will organize detentions for them immediately. A months worth at least, as well as fifty points from Slytherin." He looked at Lily, "Please confer my best wishes to Miss McDonald." He hesitated and said in a very gentle voice. "I am deeply aggrieved that anyone in my house has been responsible for such a terrible event". Lily looked at him and finally gave a reluctant nod. He seemed satisfied with this and, after giving Dumbledore a respectful nod grabbed some more powder from the jar, threw it into the flames, stepped in and vanished.

Dumbledore rose from his seat. "Now Miss Evans, as promised I will escort you back to Gryffindor tower".

"Sir" Lily said, unsure whether she should continue but determined that something needed to be said. "About Mulciber and Avery…"

"I will be keeping an eye on them" Dumbledore said, finishing her sentence. "I severely doubt that such an incident will occur in the future." At Lily's doubtful expression he raised a hand, "I will also be having a word with Mr. Mulciber and Mr. Avery, as well as owling their parents. If any incident similar to this occurs in the future they will immediately be expelled".

Although Dumbledore's face showed nothing more then sympathy Lily realized that there was no more to be said. _They should be expelled now_, Lily thought rebelliously. Once again she remembered her own plans for revenge. The thought calmed her and she was able to pretend a reluctant agreement to Dumbledore's words.

Nothing more was said between the two of them as she followed Dumbledore through the castle towards Gryffindor tower. They took an unusual route, through a number of secret passageways that Lily hadn't even realized were there. Dumbledore explained that considering Lily's appearance, it would probably be best to avoid seeing as many students as possible. Undoubtedly the story would spread as it was, but at least they could try and advert the more grizzly rumors for Mary's sake. Finally they reached the tower and Dumbledore bid Lily goodbye. She stood outside the portrait of the fat lady watching him leave.

She had just turned round to give the password and enter when a thought froze her in her tracks. Sev! He didn't know about Mulciber and Avery, he didn't know what they did, he thought they were his friends! He had to be warned. She whirled around and dashed back down the corridor, praying that she wouldn't run into Dumbledore and be forced to explain why she was ignoring his and McGonagall's orders. She checked her watch, rubbing the dried blood off as she ran. Just after twelve. Sev would probably be heading to lunch.

She dashed down the corridor, past students that cried out in shock at her terrible appearance. "Lily?!?" she heard Amelia's voice cry in shock as she ran past. She ignored her and kept running. She had just got to the library corridor when she saw Sev up ahead. She skidded to a halt. Mulciber and Avery were with him. She gripped her wand as her need to warn Sev faded behind her overwhelming urge to get revenge on Mulciber. She took a deep calming breath. She knew she couldn't just start hexing them without telling Sev what was going on. He might even try and stop her in his confusion.

She was just debating whether she should double back and try to get Sev's attention another way when it happened. Two second years came hurtling out of a side passageway, giggling like mad. The one in the lead was looking over his shoulder at the other one when he ran straight into Sev. The second year immediately began to stammer an apology his eyes wide and fearful. Sev shoved him away, so hard that the second year staggered and fell. "Watch where you're going mud blood," Sev snarled an ugly look on his face that Lily had never seen before. He pulled out his wand. The second year yelped and grasped his arm. "Next time you dare to touch me you'll get more then a stinging hex" Sev said as he walked away. Mulciber and Avery burst out laughing as they followed him. Lily stared after their retreating backs, unable to move, shocked to her inner core. Slowly she turned and made her way back to Gryffindor Tower.

When she got into the tower she found the marauders, Felicia, Abi and Suse sitting around the fireplace, eating from a huge pile of sandwiches, drinking bottles of pumpkin juice and obviously in high spirits. The rest of the common room was empty; obviously everyone else was down at lunch.

"Hey Evans!" James said brightly. "Want to join us for some sandwiches and plotting?" Seeing the look on Lily's face he quickly added, "Not that we are going to break our word or anything"

"It's just fun to think of all the things we'd like to do to them" Felicia said, giggling. "Although you'd better shower and change first. You look really terrible Lils"

"You okay Lily?" Abi asked giving her a shrewd look.

"Fine" Lily said blankly, as she started walking up the stairs. "Everything is… fine".

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The next day was Monday and they had classes again. Lily didn't say much as she worked, her whole concentration was on how she could get back at Mulciber. And what was worse was over riding it all was the scene she had seen between Sev and the second year. It kept replaying itself through her head at the most inconvenient times. What with that, Mulciber and the fact that they still hadn't been allowed to visit Mary Lily started to have nightmares. In them Sev would be the one laughing as Mary bled on the ground. When Lily would yell at him to stop he would turn on her. "Shut up Mud blood" he would yell, turning his wand on her. She was sent flying to the ground, hit with a stinging hex. She'd look up at him, pleading, "Sev please". He would laugh and raise his wand. Lily would start shaking as the curse hit her and she began to bleed. Every morning when she woke, his laughter would be ringing in her ears.

She spent the rest of the week avoiding Sev. She couldn't think of what to say to him. This was difficult in potions, but she convinced Slughorn that Abi and Suse had asked for her help and she needed to sit with them. This wasn't exactly a lie, Suse never liked potions and Abi herself admitted that she didn't have the patience to follow the instructions carefully. She always wanted to skip steps or hurry through them.

In an effort to cheer Lily up (although they didn't know exactly what was wrong) the girls decided on Saturday to go visit the gamekeeper assistant Rubeus Hagrid as they hadn't seen either him or the gamekeeper Og once since start of term. After saying goodbye to Felicia and the marauders at breakfast they headed down to Hagrids hut, which was located along the edge of the forbidden forest. They knocked on his door but received no response. They were just considering whether to head back up to the castle when they heard a massive bark and a huge black puppy came bounding around from the back of the hut. It took one look at the girls and went berserk, jumping straight onto Lily, knocking her over and drowning her in droolie licks.

"Lily!" the girls yelled.

"Fang! Fang ye dozy pup get off 'er" a voice yelled and two giant hands reached over and pulled the puppy off of Lily. Another hand reached up and pulled Lily up into the air before placing her gently on her feet.

"Thanks Hagrid" Lily gasped, feeling like her ribs had been squashed from the puppies weight. She pulled out her wand and used it to remove the drool that covered most of her. She looked at her attacker, who was still struggling in Hagrids arms. It looked like a giant boar hound, with large droopy eyes and massive feet with huge floppy ears. Lily's heart melted in an instant. "Hello gorgeous" she said leaning forward to scratch it behind its ears. The puppy wagged its tail like mad and each time it hit Hagrid it sounded like a large thwump.

Hagrid let Lily pat the puppy for a bit then shut it inside his hut explaining that they would never get any peace otherwise. He turned back to them. "So what brings you lot down to see me then?"

"We just wanted to say hello Hagrid. We haven't seen you all year" Abi said, smiling up at him.

"Yeah well" Hagrid said, and to their surprise he turned slightly red. "Been a bit busy 'avent I?" he smiled at them. "I've been made full gamekeeper! Ogg retired". They could tell he had been bursting to tell them this from the start. All three girls squealed congratulations. As they had tea with Hagrid and chatted about his promotion Lily could feel the gloom that had haunted her since last weekend finally begin to lift.

They bid Hagrid goodbye right before lunch and headed back to castle. They had just entered the Great Hall when they heard a familiar voice yell out "Evans!"

"Oh god" Lily said, rolling her eyes. Abi and Suse made to turn around but Lily grabbed their arms and continued to walk forward. She didn't want to talk to Potter at all.

The next thing she knew something small snaked itself around her waist. She just had time to look down and see the fiery rope that had wormed itself around her when she felt a sharp tug. The next thing she knew she was flying backwards at top speed, the diminishing cries of "Lily!" from Abi and Suse fading in her ears. She didn't even have time to let out a scream before she fell into something, something warm that wrapped strong arms around her. A fall of hair tickled her ear and a mildly pleasant smell filled her nostril.

"I always knew you'd fall for me eventually Evans" a voice breathed in her ear.

_POTTER_! The thought sent a fiery rage coursing through her. She grabbed her wand and twisted it round under her arm. She knew exactly what to do. "_Depulso_!" she yelled, hitting him with the knock-back jinx. There was a roar of laughter nearby as he went flying and she turned round, red faced with anger. He was lying flat on his back grinning up at her. Not far away the rest of the marauders were laughing, Sirius being partially held up by Remus

"What's the matter Evans?" he laughed, "Didn't you like Prongs track-beam charm?"

Lily was so angry for a moment she couldn't even speak, so she just stuck her tongue out at James, gave Sirius a filthy look and stalked off. A giggling Abi and Suse waited for her further down the hall.

"Lily wait!" a voice called and against her will she turned round to see a broadly grinning Remus running after her.

"What?" she said, more coldly then she intended, and she smiled apologetically at him. He didn't seem offended at all and merely said,

"Mary's finally been okayed to have visitors. That's what Prongs was trying to tell you". Lily's face lit up and Abi and Suse exclaimed in joy. They rushed back the way they had come, past a still prone Potter and a laughing Sirius and Peter, towards the hospital wing. As she rushed off Lily didn't notice the person standing in the shadow of one of the statues against the wall. Severus stared after Liy's retreating form a deep frown on his face. His expression turned blacker as his eyes drifted down to where a grinning James was being pulled to his feet by a laughing Sirius. Severus cursed, turned and strode away.


	7. The Monster In Me

_Hey everyone, Chapter 6 is finally up and running. I have to warn you there may be bigger gaps between chapters from now on. I've been sick over the last couple of weeks and am getting really behind on my work._

_Thanks to my reviewers, you guys are great!_

_Remember I love feedback, especially when there are questions or suggestions on what to write in future chapters. Currently I'm writing a chapter that occurs right before Lily goes home for Christmas. After that I will be looking for ideas on what happens to Lily during the rest of the year. I have a few but I'm looking to really amp up the angst levels between her and James. After all in their giant squabble after exams she seems extremely pissed at him. What has James done in recent memory to make her loath him so much? Guess we will have to wait and see…._

**CHAPTER SIX**

**- The Monster In Me -**

Time went by and things were both the same and different. Mary was finally okayed to leave the hospital wing. They had a mini party to celebrate in the Gryffindor common room and as a special gift each of the girls had completed some part of Mary's homework for her so she didn't have to worry about trying to catch up now that she was better. Considering the mountain load of homework they were all struggling to complete each night the girls considered this the best possible gift to give them. All except Lily, who was still secretly planning revenge of her own kind on Mulciber.

After the Mary incident Lily still found it difficult to talk to Sev, something which he had noticed. She was still sitting with Suse and Abi during potions and had often used her prefect duties as an excuse to not spend time with Sev. For his part Sev was making more and more effort to try and pin Lily down so that it was getting quite difficult to avoid him.

The one real blessing it seemed in Lily's life now came in the form of Remus Lupin. What with Felicia and Mary spending all their time together, Abi being busy with her quidditch practices and Suse occupied by the new boy she was dating (a fifth year Hufflepuff by the name of Dennis Harvey) Lily found herself spending most of her time with Remus. They shared patrols, and often spent a lot of their free-time together studying. Remus was as dedicated to his work as Lily, more so in some ways, he seemed to take any loss in grades personally and studied extra hard. Lily often privately thought that James and Sirius probably took advantage of this somehow. All three boys consistently got top grades for their classes but Remus was the only one Lily ever actually saw studying.

She enjoyed the time she got to spend with Remus. It was usually just the two of them, as even Potter seemed to bug her less when she was with Remus. Privately Lily thought that Remus must have had a word with him, after he got extremely exasperated at Potter constantly interrupting their studying. Remus was quiet, and often appeared shy, but he had a mischievous streak to rival Lily's own and often had her roaring with laughter at his sly comments. He also came with one other advantage, which Lily took guilty advantage of. He was a marauder and as such Sev refused to spend any time with him. While Lily was with Remus, Sev left her alone, helping her to avoid any awkward conversations between them.

It wasn't that she didn't like Sev anymore. She did but recent events had left her so emotionally drained that she just couldn't seem to bring herself to face the upheaval that was undoubtedly going to occur if she confronted Sev about Mulciber. Mulciber was the other big issue in her life. Anytime she didn't spend with her friends or studying she found herself brooding on how she was going to get Mulciber back.

In fact this was exactly what she was doing one Wednesday night in December when she was interrupted by an extremely wet and muddy Gryffindor quidditch team returning from a very late practice. Although it was no longer raining it had been for the past two days straight and from the looks on the teams face they hadn't appreciated being forced to practice on a pitch that had not so much resembled a quidditch stadium as it did a muddy bog. How they could get so wet and dirty in the air Lily had no idea but they certainly weren't happy.

James trudged over to where the girls, Sirius and Peter were sitting by the fire. Remus was no where to be seen. "Nice look Prongs" Sirius commented lazily as he waited for Peter to make his move in wizard chess.

"You think I look bad" James said sourly, "You should see Morgan. Fabian had us practicing rolling moves to avoid bludgers. She fell off and landed in the biggest mud pile I've ever seen. I'm surprised she could even move, considering the amount of mud that was on her."

"Where is Abi?" Suse said looking around curiously. The rest of the team had all tramped off up to the dorms, undoubtedly to get hot showers, many shooting Fabian nasty glances.

"Filch got her" James said glumly.

"What!" Lily said shooting up in her seat.

"Yeah, we saw it happen. She was a bit behind us, probably because of the mud and Filch pounced on her. Said she was deliberately besmirching the castle with filth. Fabian tried to explain that we had just come back from Quidditch but he wasn't having any of it. Git" James said.

"And you let him get away with that Prongs?" Sirius said incredulously.

"Unfortunately I didn't have much choice. I had to get back here quickly Padfoot." James said with a meaningful look. Whatever that meant mystified the girls but Sirius seemed to understand immediately and subsided.

"What…" Suse started to say but she was interrupted by Sirius.

"Checkmate" he said loudly, moving a final piece. Suse opened her mouth to ask a question again but Sirius leapt to his feet. "Well I'm off to bed. Coming James? Peter?" James looked slightly surprised, looking at his watch.

"It's still a bit early Padfoot. I was just going to go have a shower then join you lot back down here."

"Nah, I've had enough" Sirius said, giving James a look before walking towards the boys staircase. Clearly curious James followed, giving the girls a small wave and Lily a wink. Peter followed after them.

"What was that all about?" Suse asked in confusion.

"Who knows" Lily said, settling back in her chair and feeling herself drifting back to contemplating Mulciber. She was interrupted again by the emergence of a hideous mud monster that turned out to be Abi, clambering out of the portrait hole. Against all expectations she was smiling.

"Woah" Lily said, taking in Abi's bizarre appearance.

"James wasn't kidding" Suse said in disbelief. "How big was that mud puddle?"

Abi's smile flickered briefly. "About the size of the Merlins giant pants." She said flicking a huge clump of mud off the back of her hand.

"And why are you smiling?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow. "We heard you'd been caught by Filch."

"Oh that" Abi said with a dismissive wave. "I was caught by him. He took me to his office but got distracted by something Peeves had done. Anyway Gideon showed up. Said that Fabian had owled him and that Filch didn't have any right to give me a detention when I was just coming back from Quidditch Practice. He had a note from McGonagall with him saying I was to be excused".

"So that's why you're happy?" Suse said.

"Nope" Abi said, a huge grin spreading over her face. "You'll never believe what I saw in Filch's office."

"What?" Lily and Suse asked curiously.

"Well you know that list he has tacked on his door? The one with everything that he has banned from the castle?" The girls nodded. "Have you ever looked at it?" The girls shook their heads. "Well I did. While Filch was off chasing Peeves and I was waiting in his office. You'll never believe what Filch has banned now. It's right at the top of his list!"

"What?" Suse said, while Lily smothered a smile at her friends enthusiasm.

"The marauders!" Abi shrieked. The girls looked at each other for a moment, and then collapsed with laughter. Mary and Felicia entered the common room carrying a bunch of library books, and came over to them looking curious. Abi managed to blurt out what she had seen, between gasps of laughter and they joined in.

Finally they all calmed down and Lily looked at her watch. It was almost nine and about time she got on with her patrol. Sighing she pushed her hair out of her face and shoved all her books into her bag.

"Where are you going Lily?" Suse asked, looking up from her arithmancy homework.

"Gotta patrol" Lily said as she stood up, swinging her bag onto her shoulder.

"Where's Remus?" asked Abi looking surprised. "He usually meets you here".

"He's meeting me outside the library" Lily said, trying very hard not to glance at the bright full moon peering through the window, "said something abut checking some final detail on that potions essay". She felt a little bad about lying so blatantly to her friends but knew that it was the right thing to do. Remus had trusted her with his secret and she wasn't going to break that trust for anything. She'd just stepped away from the couch, about to go dump her bag in her room before patrol, when a yell echoed down from the boys dormitory.

"YOU DID WHAT!" There was a loud bang and as everyone looked up in amazement a still mud streaked James came hurtling down the staircase, shoving something up his top. Right behind him came Peter and last of all, a look of panic on his face, was Sirius.

"You utter, selfish, b*stard! I cant believe…" James roared as he reached the bottom of the stairs and started to run across the room. Sirius darted past Peter and grabbed James shoulder, pulling him around.

"Let go of me Black!" James yelled, trying to wrench himself free.

"No!" Sirius yelled back. "Please James I.. I'm sorry"

"Sorry! Sorry! You put one of your best mates life in danger for your own selfish reasons and all you can say is sorry!"

"I didn't mean.. look it was just a joke.."

"A joke" and James voice dropped to a deadly whisper. "Someone could die and you think it's a joke". His look became one of complete contempt, "You really are a Black". Sirius hands dropped away from James, looking as if he'd been slapped. "Come on Peter" and James turned away. Sirius took a step after him

"James let me.."

"No Black" James said without turning around. "You've done enough damage already". And with that he stormed out of the common room followed closely by Peter. Everyone stood in stunned amazement. For a moment Lily stood undecided then, dropping her bag to the ground, she whirled round and ran after James, ignoring her friends startled cries behind her.

She couldn't have been more then a couple of seconds behind James and Peter but by the time she got through the portrait hole they had completely disappeared. "Potter?" she called, a little hesitantly. "Potter are you there?" Silence answered her and, with a feeling of mounting dread, she turned and climbed back through the portrait hole.

Sirius was no longer standing in the common room. Ignoring her friends once more Lily hurried up the staircase that led to the boys dormitory. James, Remus, Sirius and Peters dorm was easy to find as it had a large "Marauders Den" sign on the door. Without bothering to knock she pushed her way in. The inside was surprisingly tidy, for a boys dorm, the walls plastered with pictures of Quidditch teams and for some reason muggle motorbikes, and even stranger, along one entire wall, what looked like detailed pictures of Hogwarts halls. Every bed had its curtain drawn except for one, on which Sirius was now crouched pouring over an old piece of parchment, his nose centimeters from it.

As Lily entered he said "Shut the door" without looking up.

"Sirius what is going on!" she demanded, complying. He didn't answer her but kept looking over his parchment. She was about to ask again when all of a sudden she didn't need too. Her breath caught. Once again her gaze was captured by the huge full moon streaming in through the window. "Someone could die" she whispered. "Oh my god". She strode over to the bed and grabbed Sirius so roughly that he almost fell off. "What have you done Sirius? What have you done?!"

"Get off me!" he yelled, trying to twist free but Lily's grip was too strong.

"What did you do? What's going to happen? It's to do with Remus isn't it!" she yelled at him.

"Get off!" he yelled back and shoved her roughly so that she fell onto the opposite bed. He snatched up his parchment again and went back to looking at it.

"Stop it Sirius! Stop looking at that stupid piece of parchment and answer me!"

"I have to look!" he growled back. "I have to find out what's happening"

"What do you mean?" Lily demanded, getting back up and crossing over to him. She tried to pull the parchment away from him. "How will this show you what's happening?"

"It's a map of Hogwarts" Sirius growled at her. Seeing her unconvinced look he gestured for her to sit down next to him. Feeling a mixture of reluctance, fear and anger she did so, bending over slowly to look at the parchment. She gasped in surprise. The parchment showed a map of the Hogwarts halls, exactly like the map seen on the boys dormitory walls, but with one huge difference. This map was filled with little black dots, all of which had a little label attached to them. Almost involuntarily her eyes flicked over to the part of the map that depicted Gryffindor Tower.

Little black dots designated as Abimentha Morgan, Susan Williams, Mary McDonald and Felicia Fawcett were still sitting where she had left them, but clustered so tightly together that Lily was certain they were no longer doing their homework but were discussing what had just happened. Lily's eyes flickered over to the boys dormitory and sure enough she saw the little black dots designated as Lily Evans and Sirius Black situated right next to each other.

Lily's eyes widened and she glanced at Sirius. He wasn't looking at their figures on the map but was instead lookinig at an entirely different part of the parchment, one that depicted the grounds outside. His focus was entirely on one corner of the map, towards the edge. His face looked pale and drained and he was biting his bottom lip so tightly that it looked like he was drawing blood. Lily looked where he was looking and gasped in shock. The map was showing the area with the whomping willow. And disappearing down the tunnel under the tree was a small black dot depicted as Severus Snape.

"No" she gasped. "Sev! Oh my god". She leapt to her feet. "We've got to do something! He'll die if he gets attacked. I know he will!" She blinked back the tears that formed on the edge of her eyes. "I've got to get help".

Sirius leapt to his feet and rushed in front of her. "You can't!" he said in a panic stricken tone of voice. "James is out there! If you get a teacher they'll find James and Peter. They'll know that we… they'll find out about us…" he spluttered to a halt.

Lily's eyes narrowed in rage. "We?" she whispered in a voice filled with anger. "Don't you mean you! They'll find out what you've done. Don't try and pretend that you care about any of them Sirius! You set Sev up, so that he would be attacked by a werewolf and you thought it was a joke. We all heard you downstairs. You didn't care what would happen to him, and you certainly didn't care about Remus! Did you even think for a moment what this would do to him? He hates being a werewolf, hates it! And now you've set him up so that he may hurt some one else, maybe even kill them! How do you think that's going to make him feel? Do you even think he's going to be able to live with that?"

Sirius face had lost all colour now, dark circles lining his eyes. "I didn't mean…" he started to say.

"What? What didn't you mean? Huh? What! Tell me Sirius!" Lily shouted at the top of her lungs. "To set Remus up? To get Sev killed? And what are you doing about it? Standing up here watching over a stupid map while your bestfriends are out there risking their lives trying to stop what you started!" she looked at him in utter contempt. "Now get the hell out of my way. If you truly care about anyone besides yourself you will let me go get help so that maybe I can prevent all the people you say are your friends ending up dead."

"Like you care." Sirius said in an undertone.

"What was that?"

"Like you care about what happens to any of them." Sirius said, suddenly firing up. "You probably wish that Prongs would die just so he'd leave you alone." Lily stared at him a moment as rage completely swallowed her senses. It wasn't till later that she would remember the tears that streaked down Sirius's face as he said this, or the look of bitter pain. Later she would realize that Sirius was just reacting out of anguish and fear from what it was he had done. Now however there was only one thing Lily could think of doing.

SMACK! She slapped Sirius so hard that he actually staggered backwards. Taking this opportunity she ran past him and back down the staircase. The only thought on her mind was to get to Professor Dumbledore as fast as humanly possible. To try and get to him before Sev got to Remus, before Potter and Peter both died in their idiotic attempt to save him.

She bolted out of Gryffindor Tower and down the corridor, racing up the flights of stairs without pausing for breath. She'd never run so fast before, but there had never been such a need. She partially collapsed against the gargoyle guarding his office as she struggled to gasp out the password, "lemon drops".

She did completely collapse when the gargoyle leapt aside, but fortunately she landed on the moving staircase. She lay there, winded and struggling to breathe as it bore her upwards to the headmasters office. At the top she managed to pull herself to her feet and hammered frantically on the door.

There was the briefest pause then the door opened. Professor Dumbledore stood there, still dressed, looking at her in complete surprise. "my goodness Miss Evans, what on earth has happened?" he asked.

"Please.." she tried to gasp out, in between huge breaths. "Professor you need… to go… whomping willow… Remus and Severus… Potter is trying to stop it… Peter too… Sirius told Sev to go…" Somehow he seemed to understand what it was that she was trying to say as he swept past her, drawing his wand. Two silvery white things shot from it and sped off in different directions.

"Stay here Ms Evans." He said sternly. "I will return as soon as possible." Lily shook her head and staggered after him. She knew she couldn't stand waiting there, not knowing what was happening. His gaze softened, as he looked into her determined expression. "Very well. But you must promise to stay behind me and follow my instructions immediately". Lily nodded quickly, trying to conserve oxygen for breathing.

She followed Dumbledore as he moved with surprising speed through the Hogwarts halls. She stumbled after him as they exited through the main doors. Lily couldn't quite conceal a gasp of shock as a giant form loomed out at them. A moment later she recognized it as Hagrid, carrying his giant crossbow.

"Ye sent for me Professor Dumbledore?" he asked in an anxious tone of voice. He spotted Lily behind Professor Dumbledore. "Lily?!?" he said incredulous, "What on earth are ye doing here?"

"Ms Evans is here because she's warned me about a danger. A werewolf has been spotted on the grounds. Mr. Snape is quite possibly in danger of it right now. If I understood Ms Evans correctly Mr. Potter and Mr. Pettigrew are also on the grounds trying to help him. We have to hurry, they were last spotted near the whomping willow."

Hagrid turned pale and hurried after Dumbledore as he quickly headed out into the night. Anxiety gripped Lily as she ran after them through grounds lit to brilliance by the light of the cursed full moon. Stillness hung through the air and all Lily could hear was the sound of her own breath, Hagrid's feet thumping the ground and the whisper of Professor Dumbledores robe as it slithered along the ground. Then the scream came. It tore through the air, filled with fear. Lily's heart froze in her chest.

More shouts came from up ahead, just over the hill. They crested the ridge and Lily fought down a scream. There down by the whomping willow, right on the edge of the forest stood a monster of hideous proportions. It was hunched over, still upright on two legs, with its longer forearms caressing the ground. Lily eyes seemed frozen on the gleam coming from the werewolfs wide-open maw. It snarled in rage.

"C'mon Snape!" a distant voice yelled. Lily's eyes were drawn down and she saw to her horror a figure that could only be Potter desperately trying to drag the terrified figure of Severus. Dumbledore and Hagrid began to run down the hill, but they were still far too far away to be able to help.

"Now Peter!" James yelled. Lily couldn't see where Peter was but she realized immediately what it was he had done. Somehow Peter had triggered the whomping willow into attack mode. Lily hadn't even realized that it was still until that moment. One of it's giant branches lashed out and sent the werewolf flying through the air. It crashed into the ground hard. James ran towards it and shot something at it with his wand. Whatever the spell was it sent the werewolf flying into the air again. The werewolf staggered to it's feet only to be hit by the whomping willow once more.

Too late Lily realized that this last swipe had brought the werewolf back within the reach of Sev. He didn't seem to have realized. Instead he appeared to be frantically searching the ground around him and Lily suddenly realized to her horror that he was looking for his wand. The werewolf snarled and Sev spun around. Even from this distance Lily could see the terror in his expression. The werewolf charged and now Lily did scream at the top of her lungs. Right before the werewolf got to Sev a figure came from nowhere as James jumped in the way pushing Sev out of danger. Then the werewolf was on him.

Somehow James managed to scramble out of the way of the first swipe of werewolf claws. The next one caught him on the side and sent him tumbling to the ground. For a moment all he could was look up at the werewolf leering over him. Red light shot over the werewolfs shoulder as Dumbledore desperately tried to stun the werewolf even from his great distance. James tried to get to his feet but the werewolf lunged forward again. Dumbledore shot another distracting beam but even Lily could see it wasn't going to distract the werewolf for long. It snarled in anger and howled, before turning on James once more. Lily could see he was scrabbling at the ground around him, desperately searching for his wand. The werewolf leapt for the last time.

"Prongs!" a voice yelled and Sirius bolted from the forbidden forest and slammed into the werewolf. They went down in a tangle of limbs and claws. Sirius scrambled away and James leapt to his side. Side by side they faced the werewolf, hands empty of wands but together in determination. The werewolf squared up to them. Lily blinked. Suddenly she realized the horrible, bitter truth of what she was seeing. Right here in front of her very eyes she was witnessing two friends facing down a terrible monster that was their best mate in possessed form. Their bestfriend was going to try and kill them.

Red light beamed out and hit the werewolf. The light was so strong that it illuminated the creature, than it ever so slowly collapsed down to the ground. Dumbledore and Hagrid entered the clearing. After a moment James walked forward with Sirius and bent down by the werewolf. Lily watched as he gently reached out and stroked the monsters head.

Dumbledore and Hagrid reached them and after a moment Peter appeared from behind the whomping willow and joined them. Hagrid reached down and slung the werewolf over his shoulder. Lily watched as Dumbledore approached Sev, holding something out for him. It was obviously Sevs wand as she saw him take it with a shaking hand. All of them turned and started heading back towards Lily. She lost track of them for awhile, as they disappeared beyond the hill through the forest.

Finally they reached her. Hagrid came first, carrying the stunned werewolf. Then there was Peter, stamping along after them looking completely exhausted, his eyes on the unconscious wolf. Next was Dumbledore and Severus. Sev seemed frozen, his face pale and eyes haunted. He seemed to be walking on automatic, unaware of his surroundings. He didn't look up or show any sign of recognition of Lily as he walked past her.

Lastly came James and Sirius, James partially leaning against Sirius. James looked completely beat up. He could only see through one eye, the other one was starting to swell shut. His clothes were bloody and torn and he appeared to be having difficulty keeping his left arm straight. Sirius had a two bloody claw marks across his face that were still openly bleeding. As they crested the hill Sirius looked down, away from Lily. He couldn't seem to bare to meet her gaze.

James stumbled as he saw Lily. "Evans?" he croaked. "What are you doing here?"

"I brought Dumbledore" Lily half whispered.

"Oh" James said. He swayed as he stood and Sirius tightened his grip.

"Come on Prongs" he muttered, pulling James away. James hesitated.

"Thanks Evans" he said quietly. "For trying to help us save Moony." Lily nodded and quietly followed them as they headed back up the hill towards the castle. As she walked after them she could feel the exhaustion creeping up and taking over her. She glanced at her watch and gave a small self depreciating chuckle. It was only 9:30. What else could possibly happen tonight.

_Reviews are better than Cheering Charms!_


	8. Secrets of Private Lives

_Ta Da! Two posts in one day. _

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

**- Secrets Of Private Lives -**

Lily woke up early the next day with a plan fully formed. Dumbledore had sent her to bed before taking the boys up to his office. Today was a Tuesday which meant that she didn't have any lessons with Sev. Dumbledore had specifically requested that Lily not do anything that might jeopardize Remus secret, which meant she couldn't exactly go straight up to Sev during break and say "Let's talk about what happened with the werewolf and the marauders last night". Fortunately she and Sev had long ago devised a way to signal when they wanted to meet but didn't have enough time in the day to actually ask.

She swung herself out of bed and scrumaged through her jewelry draw. Finally she found it a large, bright emerald dragonfly hair-clip that Sev had given her for her twelfth birthday. She knew that he had scrimped and saved in order to be able to pay for it, as his father rarely gave him pocket money. The colour he had altered himself, magically changing it from a plain tin clip to the beautiful emerald. It was one of Lily's most treasured possessions and with it in her hair Sev would know that Lily wanted to meet with him at their spot after dinner.

Grabbing her clothes she headed to the bathroom and began to get ready for the day. It was still reasonably early even after she had a long shower. She poked her head into her dorm on her way back down stairs but everyone else was still snoring. Grabbing her bag Lily thought she might do a bit of reading in the common room while she waited for the others to get up. Once she got down there though she immediately changed her mind. Sirius was there already sitting staring at nothing. He looked up at her as she walked across the room but Lily resolutely turned away from him.

She clambered out of the portrait hole then stood wondering what to do now. It was still too early for breakfast to be ready and she didn't want to hand around in the Great Hall like a loser. She found herself wandering along with half a mind to perhaps browse the library for a bit when she suddenly cam upon the idea of visiting Remus in the hospital wing. It was sun up so he would be safe and she was pretty sure that Madam Pomfrey would let her in.

When she got down to the hospital wing though she heard some voices inside talking quietly. She peeked her head in and saw James and Peter sitting by Remus bed. Remus was still asleep but James and Peter didn't look like they had had any at all. James hair looked messier then ever and Peter was leaning heavily on the bed barely keeping his eyes open. Even as Lily watched Peters head dropped down and he began to snore quietly. James leaned back in his seat, stretching his hands over his head. Remus mumbled and opened his eyes.

"James?" he asked blearily. He looked around in confusion. "Why am I in the hospital wing?"

James sighed and leant forward. "Moony… there's something I have to tell you" he said softly. Silently Lily backed out and shut the door. Some things she decided had to be handed by those closest to you.

Lily headed down to the Great Hall. It must have been later then she realized as breakfast was appearing on the tables as she entered. AS she sat down and began piling her plate full of eggs and bacon she resolutely turned her thoughts away from what had happened last night. It wasn't easy but fortunately she was soon joined by Mary, Felicia and Suse. Abi as always took her time coming down but eventually entered with James and Peter just as Lily was finishing up.

"What's with James and Peter?" Suse asked in surprise. "They looked trashed."

"Not sure" Abi shrugged as she sat down. "They came up from the hospital wing. James said Remus got sick last night or something."

"Wait" Felicia interrupted craning her neck. "Where is Sirius?" Mary looked around in surprise.

"There" Lily said quietly as Sirius entered. Felicia and Mary whipped around.

"He doesn't look so good" Felicia said with some concern. Abi rolled her eyes and Lily shrugged and poured herself some more pumpkin juice. As the rest of the girls watched Sirius hesitated then walked up to James and Peter. Sirius opened his mouth to say something but James turned away and continued to eat. For a moment Sirius didn't seem to know what to say then he turned and walked off, sitting further down the table.

"Whoa" Abi said quietly.

"What on earth was that all about?" Suse asked in shock. As the girls all put their heads together and tried to figure out what on earth could be happening between the marauders Lily remained silent. Abi eyed her suspiciously.

"You alright?" she asked. "You're awfully quiet this morning". Lily shrugged.

"I didn't sleep well" she said quickly. "Erm… look there's Gideon. I just want a quick word with him about our prefect meeting tonight. I guess since Remus is sick he won't be able to make it."

"Okay" Abs said with an unconvinced look. Faking a smile Lily grabbed her bag. As she stood she looked across to the Slytherin table. Sev appeared lost in thought but Lily seemed to catch his attention. She raised a hand so that it brushed her hair clip. Sev raised an eyebrow and nodded in understanding. She gave him a quick smile and walked down to talk to Gideon before heading to charms.

Although Lily was the first into class Sirius arrived soon after. Lily glared at him and buried her head into her book. Sirius shrugged and instead of taking his usual seat at the back sat at the very front of the class. Lily peeked under her lashes at him from where he sat. Despite herself she couldn't help but feel a slight stirring of sympathy. She had never seen the confident, self-involved boy look so truly miserable before in her life.

………………………………………………………

Classes had never seemed to pass so slowly before. It was most likely because she was so impatient to talk to Sev but the slow ticking of time was slowly driving her crazy. Throughout the day she found herself watching Sirius at work. He was quiet, keeping his head down, not drawing attention to himself as was usual. Neither Peter nor James made any attempt to talk to him, although Peter at least seemed to be sneaking glances at Sirius almost as often as Lily was. At lunch Sirius sat by himself again and there was no sign of James and Peter.

Lily was famished and bolted down her food. However this meant she was done well and truly before Suse and Abi had even gotten half-way through there's. Feeling restless Lily shifted impatiently in her seat then realized that now would be a perfect time to go visit Remus. She'd been thinking about him on and off during the days classes, finding herself writing down extra notes to give to him so he wouldn't miss out. She knew how important his studies were.

Excusing herself she got up, telling Abi and Suse she'd see them in transfiguration. She hadn't got much further then the stairs however when someone slipped a warm arm over her shoulders. "Ahh Evans" a familiar voice said by her ear. "Some alone time at last".

"Get off Potter!" Lily said, roughly shoving him away. It was easier then usual but Lily quickly saw that the reason was he was trying to juggle a stack load of chocolate, as well as sticky cakes and buns. She stared at his load in amazement. "What on earth is that all for?" she asked.

James grinned. "Moony. He absolutely loves chocolate but Madam Pomfrey has him eating nourishing soups so I snuck down to the kitchens and got this lot for him." Eyeing the massive amount Lily said dryly.

"How much do you think he can eat?"

"Are you kidding me?" James laughed. "You obviously have no idea how much of a choc-aholic Moony is. He'd be happy to eat it for breakfast, lunch and tea. I've never seen anything like it."

Lily couldn't help but grin. James smiled even wider, "Why Evans I think that's the first time you've ever smiled at me."

"Don't push it" Lily warned.

James juggled his treats a bit more so he could get his hand free again. He extended a slightly chocolate covered hand to Lily. She backed away as he gently reached out and touched her dragonfly clip. "Pretty" he said quietly. "Looks good on you."

"Erm thanks," she said slightly flustered. "It was a gift from a friend." James eyes narrowed slightly.

"What type of friend." He said in an obvious attempt at casual that did nothing to hide the hint of jealousy. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Just a friend okay Potter? I'm allowed to have them" _Typical,_ she thought. _Just when he seems to be acting his age for once_.

James looked down withdrawing his hand. "So... erm..." he started. One of the cakes he was holding started to fall and he lunged and caught it. Inspiration seemed to strike and he gave her a cheeky look. "Want to come with me and be my special treat for Moony? The extra sugar on all these sweets?" he asked, grinning wickedly.

Lily found herself actually smothering another smile. "Sorry Potter. I'm pretty sure I'm too much for either of you to handle." She rummaged in her bag for a second and pulled out her notes for Remus. She handed them to James and said, "Can you give these to him for me though? I took them during class today for him."

"Sure thing." James winked at her as he started climbing the stairs apparently relieved that she wasn't going to start yelling at him like usual. "I'll tell Remus that you really wanted to see him but knew you wouldn't be able to keep you hands off of me if you did."

Lily felt the corners of her lips twitch but turned it into a scowl. "Get over yourself Potter" she said instead. _Now stop that!_ She mentally scolded herself. _Start responding to his jokes and you'll end up like every single one of those brainless bimboes that follow him around. You're just being nicer to him at the moment because he's actually doing something for Remus and not being the arrogant arse that you know he is!_ Feeling slightly better and almost believing her own arguments Lily made her way back down stairs. All up she decided it was better that she didn't spend any more time then necessary with this suddenly nicer James Potter. She was sure he'd be back to his old ways in no time at all.

Once again Lily was completely oblivious to the fact that this latest interaction between her and James had been witnessed. From his position by the corridor that led to the Slytherin Common room Sev ground his teeth in frustration.

…………………………………………………….

Finally it was dinner time. This time James and Peter came but once again Sirius was not with them but was sitting by himself at the end of the Gryffindor table. Several of his fan-club (consisting of mostly fourth and third year Gryffindor girls) had tried to sit with him but he his surly attitude had soon ensured he was left alone.

Lily didn't say much as she ate, occasionally finding herself glancing down the table at Sirius and his self imposed exile. Eventually Suse and Abi grew tired of Lily's prolonged silences. "What's up with you Lil?" Abi asked as she helped herself to extra mashed potato while they were eating dinner.

"Yeah" Suse asked. "And what's with the prolonged glances and looks towards Sirius".

"Oh god" Abi said with a groan. "Please, please don't tell me you've joined the Sirius fan club. It was bad enough living with Suse's obsession with him during the third and fourth grade."

Suse turned bright pink. "Shut up" she muttered. "Besides I'm way over that now."

"Remember before that?" Abi continued brightly. "In first year? When it was James?  
And you made him a valentine's card in the shape of a singing broomstick? What was that song it sang…?"

Lily grinned in spite of herself as Suse leapt on Abi and tried to smother her with her school cloak.

_I love the way you fly_

_I love the way you laugh_

_I love how you make me sigh_

_I love the shape of your hair_

_I love your glasses oh so round_

_Please tell me that you care_

She sang mischievously. Suse groaned and covered her ears. "Oh god was I ever so lame?" she lamented.

"Oh I don't know." Abi smiled. "My favorite part was when James thought it was from Lily and followed her around singing it to her whenever he saw her." Suse laughed and it was Lily's turn to groan.

"So what's the verdict Lil?" Suse asked quickly. "Are you crushing over Sirius?"

"Please." Lily said with a snort. "As if. One blithering big-headed idiot plaguing my life is enough". She saw Sev get to his feet over at the Slytherin table. "Oops, gotta go girls. I've got a meeting with Sev"

Abi snorted in disdain as Suse looked up. "Your still hanging out with him?" she said, concern in her voice. "Lil' come on after what happened with Mulciber and the thing you saw him do to that second year…"

"The thing that happened with Mulciber was Mulciber not Sev. And as for the second year, well I'm sure that was just a misunderstanding…" Lily's voice trailed off.

"Yeah right Lil" Abi said. "Real convincing". Lily shrugged and picked up her bag. She decided there wasn't any real point in trying to argue a point that she herself wasn't totally convinced by.

"I'll see you guys after my prefect meeting" she said instead and walked away.

She ran into Sev right outside the hall. She didn't really know how to begin, I mean how do you ask someone how the feel about almost getting eaten… by another student… and one of her best friends? So instead she wordlessly gestured down towards the lake. They walked in silence as Lily searched for words how to begin. It seemed so stupid to her that after spending all day thinking about this moment now that it was here she didn't know what to say.

Sev broke the silence first as they walked down the courtyard. "Lily are you angry at me?" he asked softly.

"What?" Lily asked completely caught off guard. This wasn't exactly the way she'd expected their conversation to start.

"Well it just seems to me that you've been avoiding me. You don't sit with me in potions anymore and every time I do manage to get you alone you always have something you have to do and you rush off. Call me crazy but it seems like you're angry about something." Sev said quickly, stumbling over his words slightly in his haste to get them out.

Lily flushed red. She had completely forgotten about the fact that she had indeed been avoiding Sev lately. Last nights events had completed made her forget all about it. "Well… I… Look it's not that I'm angry at you. I've just been, oh I don't know, confused maybe?"

"Confused about what?" Sev asked softly.

"You I suppose." Lily said not quite meeting his eyes. "I mean I've know you most of my life Sev and I thought I knew you better then anyone. But then here we are at Hogwarts and your, I dunno, different? I've just, I've just I've seen some things, seen the people you hang out with and sometimes it seems like… well it almost seems like you want to be like them. Like you're turning into them! I mean look at you Sev, you might be in Slytherin but you don't have to act like one. Why would you want to be like that? Like Avery and Mulciber? I mean Mulciber! If I could get my wand on him for just a moment…" and Lily clenched her fists in rage.

"Whoa, wait… You want to get at Mulciber? You're angry at him? I thought you were angry at me?"

"I am!" Lily said, "Well no… not exactly. I don't know, I don't think I'm explaining this very well. Like I said I'm not angry at you I just... I guess I just hate this whole situation, the way things have been sorted out you know."

"Why?" Sev asked raising an eyebrow. "Because you're in Gryffindor and I'm in Slytherin. Because of the house rivalry? It thought you said that that didn't matter to you?"

"It doesn't Sev! Didn't! Oh I don't know" Lily muttered

"I thought we were supposed to be friends" Sev said, hurt flashing across his features. "Best friends?"

"We are, Sev, but I… don't like some of the people you're hanging around with! I'm sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! Mulciber!" Lily spat the name in hatred. "What do you see in him Sev? He's creepy! D'you know what he tried to do to Mary Macdonald the other day?" Lily stopped and sighed, leaning back against the pillar. They had finally got to it, to the thing that had been upsetting her all this time. She looked up into the face peering down at her.

"That was nothing," said Sev, trying to sound soothing. "It was a laugh, that's all…"

Lily straightened up her already stretched emotions boiling with anger. She couldn't believe what she had just heard Sev say. "It was Dark Magic, and if you think that's funny…"

"What about the stuff Potter and his mates get up to?" Sev demanded cutting across her, his voice filled with anger and resentment. Lily blinked in surprise momentarily non-plussed.

"What's Potter got to do with anything?" she asked.

"They sneak out at night. There's something weird about that Lupin. Where does he keep going?"

Oh my god, Lily thought. He doesn't know, he doesn't know that it was Remus. "He's ill," she said hastily. "They say he's ill"

"Every night at full moon?" Sev said staring into her eyes. So that was it, Lily realized. He did know but he didn't know that she did. She remembered the conversation that they had had a long time ago when Sev had first wondered about Remus and his constant illnesses. She had laughed off his suggestion of Remus being a werewolf then but now… She knew the truth and so did he. She looked him in the eyes and remembered the promise she had made to Remus. She couldn't betray that now, on the off chance that Sev already knew what Remus was.

"I've heard your theory" she said as coldly as she could. She tried to change the focus a little. "Why are you so obsessed with them, anyway? Why do you care what they are doing at night?" As she said this a thought struck her. Was it because of this, of Sev's obsession with the marauders that he had gone out last night? Gone out and almost got himself killed?

"I'm just trying to show you, they're not as wonderful as everyone seems to think they are." He said in a low intense voice, staring directly into her eyes once more. She felt heat on her cheeks and dropped her gaze.

"They don't use dark magic though." She lowered her voice as well. "And you're being really ungrateful. I know what happened last night. You went sneaking down that tunnel by the whomping willow and James Potter saved you from… from whatever's down there…" she couldn't bring herself to say werewolf. It would only get Sev back on Remus again.

Sev's face contorted with rage and something Lily couldn't quite define. "Saved? Saved? You think he was playing the hero?" he started to pace in his anger. "He was saving his neck and his friends too! You're not going to –" he sputtered as he tried to form sentences "I won't let you –".

Lily's temper flared instantly, hotter then before. "Let me? Let Me!" she hissed at him. How dare he think he had control over her!

Sev backtracked instantly holding his hands up in apology. "I didn't mean – I just don't want to see you being made a fool of – he fancies you, James Potter fancies you!" Lily stared at Sev as heat scorched her cheeks again. She'd never seen Sev so upset about Potter before. Never realized he took Potters crush so seriously, she certainly never had. Her mind drifted back to the moment when James had said he'd only kiss her and she went even redder. Sev was spluttering again in his attempt to explain what he meant. "And he's not … Everyone thinks… Big Quidditch hero –" Sev bitterness and anger was so evident that Lily felt her eyebrows rising in surprise.

"I know James Potter is an arrogant toe rag," she said cutting across his explanations. "I don't need you to tell me that. But Mulciber and Avery's idea of humor is just evil. Evil, Sev. I don't understand how you can be friends with them." They started to walk away and Lily glanced over at Sev. He had small smile on his face. "What?" she said angrily. "Why are you smiling? Do you really think what Mulciber did was that amusing?"

Sevs steps faltered. "What? No Lily I just…"

"Oh whatever Sev" Lily said turning away. "I've had enough of this stupid discussion. I have to go to my prefects meeting and you're obviously not going to listen to what I have to say anyways."

"Lily come on" Sev yelled after her as she stormed away but Lily wasn't listening.

Feeling absolutely furious Lily pounded up the stairs. She wasn't really running late for her meeting but with anger pounding in her temples she ran up the stairs anyway. By the time she reached the fifth floor she was gasping for breath and her legs felt like they were on fire but at the very least she felt more under control. Taking several gasping breaths she walked down the corridor towards the classroom where the prefects always met.

Since she was still twenty minutes early she didn't expect anyone to be there yet but to her surprise she saw a very nervous Frank already there. He looked up eagerly as she entered so Lily couldn't miss his hastily suppressed flash of disappointment at seeing her.

"Lily hi!" he said in an overly cheerful tone of voice. "You're here early"

"Expecting someone else?" Lily asked shrewdly. Frank flushed pink and Lily was hit with a thought. "Or could it possibly be that it's a well known fact that when ever we have a prefect meeting on a Tuesday Alice always gets here ten minutes early because she comes straight after her charms club meeting?".

Franks head dropped. "I don't know what's wrong with me." He said in a despairing tone of voice. "Every time I see Alice I just seem to lose the ability to think, or even see. Do you know the amount of things I've walked into or dropped this year?" Lily smothered a giggle. It was true that Frank seemed to undergo an attack of the clumsies every time Alice was around.

"So why don't you do something about it?" she asked gently. "You're a great guy Frank, and Alice is lucky to have someone like you looking out for her."

"I don't know" he said slowly. "I haven't really had a chance to have a proper conversation with her. You know, one where I manage to actually complete a sentence. I thought maybe if I got here early and could spend some one on one time with her I might get somewhere…" his voice trailed off.

Lily leapt to her feet. "It's not too late" she said quickly. "I can leave and come back later."

"No don't" Frank said in alarm. "Honestly Lily I think you coming here early was providence. You've probably saved me from spending ten whole minutes trying to look everywhere but at Alice, or mumbling out a few words before I, oh I dunno, fall off my seat or something."

Lily smiled and shook her head. "I doubt it would be that bad Frank". He gave her a pleading look. She sighed, "But just incase I promise I wont go anywhere."

He sighed in relief. "Thanks Lily". She and Frank chatted companionably for the next ten minutes until Alice showed up. She looked surprised to see Lily and Frank there so early and for the briefest moment Lily thought she saw a flash of something like jealousy in her eyes as she looked from Frank to Lily. Lily smothered yet another smile as Alice sat down and they began to talk. As Frank had foretold he spent the next ten minutes looking everywhere but at Alice and not saying a word.

Finally the rest of the prefects arrived and the meeting began. Lily stood and gave Remus's apologies for not attending. They went through the events of the last month of patrols and Gideon handed out the next month's schedule. To her interest Lily noticed that Avery, the slytherin prefect was not in attendance. An explanation wasn't given until right at the end of the meeting.

"I have two more announcements to make and then you can all go" the Head Girl Hannah Vance said as the clock struck ten. "First of all there is currently no male Slytherin fifth year prefect. Linus Avery has been suspended from his duties and is currently under review as to whether he should be allowed to continue as prefect after his involvement in an incident between another slytherin fifth year and a Gryffindor fifth year." A muttering ran through the assembled prefects and Lily looked across at Priscilla Goyle, the fifth year female slytherin prefect who sneered back at her.

"Secondly," Gideon continued, taking over from Hannah, "because of that incident Dumbledore has informed me that there has been a significant change to the conditions of prefect privileges. From now only the head girl and boy will be allowed to take house points, and only after they inform a teacher of why points are being taken and get the teachers approval." More out cry came from this statement and Hannah raised her hands.

"We know that this may seem rather unfair to those of us who are strictly adherent to the regulations and code of being prefects. It is felt however that these new rules will prevent those who choose to believe that prefects can do whatever they want from abusing the rules that our professors have set." As she said this Hannah determinedly looked away from the section of the classroom where the slytherin prefects were sitting. One of them Narcissa Malfoy looked down her nose at Hannah and leaned over to whisper something in her fellow seventh year prefects ear. The boy smirked and whispered something back.

"If you should see a student breaking the rules it is now your responsibility to A) reprimand the student in question and B) if you feel further action is necessary take it up with that students head of house for further discipline." Hannah continued. Lily smothered a groan and shot another look at the Slytherins. Most of them were openly smirking now. It was well known that their head of house, Professor Slughorn, would openly prefer to avoid disciplining a student if at all possible, if only to save himself from the inconvenience of having to watch over them. Somehow Lily just knew that her own head of house, Professor McGonagall was not going to be quiet as easy.

"Okay" Gideon said standing up and clapping his hands together. "That's it for tonight. Keep an eye out for students as you head back to your dorms but don't worry too much. Hannah and I will take over patrol for tonight. I'm sure you're all eager to get back your common rooms."

Lily said goodbye to Alice and headed back to the Gryffindor Tower with Frank, his sixth year counter part Vanessa Hollisen and the seventh year female Gryffindor prefect Katie Thomas. They spent most of the walk talking about quidditch (the first game between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor was coming up that Saturday) but Lily was quite glad to leave their company when Frank and Katie got into an argument about whether the Harpies or Freskos were better quidditch teams just as they arrived at the portrait hole. Leaving the two arguing outside the common room Vanessa and Lily clambered inside.

"I can't believe them" Vanessa said, shaking her long blonde hair out of her face. "I'll talk to you later Lily".

"Sure thing Ness" Lily said as Vanessa smiled a goodbye and walked over to where her friends were sitting by the fire. From behind her Lily heard the fat lady say in exasperation.

"Are you two coming in or am I just expected to stay here open all night while you argue!"

…………………………………………………….

The next morning Lily got up early again in order to try and see Remus before she had to go down to breakfast. This time however she was joined by Abi and Suse. Unable to think up another explanation as to why she would be getting up so early Lily lamely said that she thought she'd see how Remus was feeling today since James said he was sick yesterday.

To her delight however Remus himself came walking up from the hospital wing, accompanied by James and Peter. Although he looked a little tired he seemed no worse for wear after his adventures two nights ago and seemed almost chipper. Lily made him laugh by presenting him with one of her very last Mars Bars, from the muggle candy hoard she brought with her at the start of term. Even though he hadn't had breakfast Remus wolfed it down in one second and said that it was different but he really liked it.

The three marauders decided to join the girls for breakfast. Lily quickly dragged Remus into the seat next to her so that Potter wouldn't fit. James wasn't deterred however taking the seat directly opposite her. "Make sure you eat up Evans" he said bracingly. "Try not to spend all your time staring adoringly into my eyes." She kicked him under the table. "Ouch Evans!" he exclaimed before smirking at Peter, "Talk about your tough love." Lily rolled her eyes as the others all laughed.

At that moment Sirius mooched in looking despondent. He looked across to where Remus was sitting with Lily and his cheeks flushed red. He turned away and quickly walked to the other end of the table. Lily looked at James and could immediately see that he had noticed by the way he hunched his shoulders. She glanced quickly around then leant close to Remus.

"So" she whispered. "Has Sirius been to see you?" Remus tensed instantly, his eyes becoming shadowy making their golden flecks shine brighter. He nodded curtly. As Lily continued to stare at him he sighed and leant close.

"Yesterday morning. Right after Prongs and Peter left for breakfast."

"But he showed up not long after they did" she said in puzzlement.

"Madam Pomfrey came to change my bandages and kicked him out." He said quietly. "He didn't really have a chance to say much. Just asked me how I was feeling. I think he wanted to say sorry but… well Sirius has never found it easy to talk about things. He's really guarded about his emotions."

Lily looked at Remus in stunned admiration. "You're actually defending him. After everything… you're an amazing person Remi." Remus went red and shrugged.

"Sirius… Padfoot made a mistake. It was… a bad one it's true but, well, he's also always been the very first person to stand up for me and those like me. I don't forget that." He glanced down the table at where Sirius was playing with his food. "Unfortunately since then I've had James and Peter as my constant bodyguards and Sirius won't come near. I've tried talking to Prongs but he's pretty stubborn. He hasn't forgiven Sirius yet and until he does I don't think he wants Sirius anywhere near me. Prongs takes things like loyalty really seriously."

Lily stared at Remus. She found Remus's description of Potter in complete opposite to everything she'd ever thought about the egotistical, messy black-haired boy sitting across from her.

Lilies thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the owl post. The large screech owl that belonged to James arrived, landing almost on Lilies plate, which she hastily moved out of the way. James pulled off the letter.

"Sorry about that Evans" he said absentmindedly. "Quaffle apologize to the pretty girl." Lily rolled her eyes but couldn't hide a grin as the owl dipped it's beak at her. James opened his letter but had barely skimmed it when he leapt to his feet his face going red with anger.

Clambering over the bench he stormed down the table to where Sirius was sitting. While everyone stared in amazement he yanked Sirius around and shook the letter in his face.

"What the hell is this?" James yelled at the top of his lungs.

"James what..?" Sirius asked in surprise.

"It's from my mother! She told me you sent her a letter asking my parents to send you the rest of your stuff!" James roared, shaking the letter at Sirius again.

Sirius's eyes dropped. "I just figured with everything that had happened… that you wouldn't…"

"What?! We have a fight and you figure that's it? That I wouldn't want you living with me anymore? What kind of friend do you think I am?"

"You won't even look at me!" Sirius bellowed, finally losing his temper. James pulled himself even straighter, looking angrier then ever.

"Mr Potter! Mr Black!" a voice intervened and Professor McGonagall stormed up looking scandalized. "What do you think you are doing causing such a ruckus during breakfast?" As James opened his mouth to reply McGonagall raised her hands. "Do not mistake me. I do not want to hear about the topic that has caused a screaming match in front of every other student. I suggest however that it may be prudent to take this discussion elsewhere, somewhere more private". The look she gave both boys as well as the telling glance she made in Remus's direction indicated that she knew quite well what they were talking about.

"You're absolutely right Professor." James said between gritted teeth and he grabbed Sirius and practically hauled him out of the Great Hall.

Remus sighed and got to his feet. "We'd better go after them. With their tempers they might just try to kill each other." He slung his bag over his back. "Wormy take Prongs bag, I'll go get Padfoots."

Lily grabbed his arm as he made to go. "Remi…" she hesitated before plunging on, "is Sirius really living with Ja... Potter?" Remus looked uncomfortable but nodded. "Why?" Lily persisted.

Remus sighed, "From what I hear Regulus told all the Slytherins so I suppose there's no harm in saying. You'd probably hear anyway especially after this mornings entertainment. Sirius ran away from home. He had to."

Lily blinked in surprise. She didn't know that much about Sirius's family life it was true. The Blacks were one of the wealthiest old wizarding families. Sure she'd heard the Sirius was a bit different being in Gryffindor (all of his relatives, including his younger brother were Slytherins) but she never would have guessed that he had a bad home life. He, just like James, always had the newest of everything and he didn't look like he went without. He certainly didn't show up at the start of every term with bruises like Sev did.

Her incredulousness must have shown on her face because Remus leant down lower and said softly. "Prongs told me that when Sirius showed up at his house he was covered in blood. It was his own. He'd been attacked by his family… and it wasn't the first time."

Lily stared up at Remus in horror as the brown-eyed boy squeezed her shoulder then made his way down to collect Sirius's stuff. He also grabbed some toast which he shared with Peter as they excited the hall.

Lily turned troubled eyes back towards Abi and Suse who stared back at her in stunned amazement. They had heard everything.

"Wow" Suse said softly.

"I guess you never really know what's happening in someone's personal life do you." Abi said quietly, looking down where Sirius had been sitting not so long ago.

Lily stared at the spot where she had last seen Remus as he exited the hall, her eyes sad. "No" she whispered, "I guess you really don't."

_Help me produce a patronus charm by thinking about all the feedback I got for this chapter :P_


	9. Black Is Only A Name

_Okay so we have this chapter and one other that I have already written, and then I am unsure as to when I will be able to update. I don't have a lot of time right now and I've also been quite unwell which means I'm even more behind then usual. _

_Can I just say I was completely blown-away by all the reviews I got for the last two chapters. I tried to reply to everyone that I could, if I missed you I'm really sorry and I really appreciated the feedback._

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

**- Black Is Only A Name -**

The rest of the day still held quite a few surprises for Lily. Although the marauders were not seen for the rest of breakfast the girls spotted them as they made their way out to the Great Hall in preparation to go to their potions class. All four boys were walking together and too her surprise Lily felt a sense of inner relief as she watched Potter laugh at something that Sirius said and watched Sirius throw his arm around a grinning Remus. A tension she hadn't even noticed evaporated inside and she found herself grinning as well. Some how, despite how much she despised them, the world just hadn't seemed quite right with those four boys not talking to each other. The unity of the marauders was as much a part of life at Hogwarts as going to classes or hanging in the commonroom.

As Lily watched however Sirius suddenly pointed at something ahead of them. Peering over their heads Lily saw they had just noticed Avery and Dolohov entering the potions corridor. She didn't exactly see what happened but the next moment all four boys burst out laughing. Lily exchanged glances with Abi and Suse and all three girls sped up. Sure enough when they got close enough it was to see that a cursing Avery was trying to pull himself away from a red faced and angry Dolohov. Someone had stuck them together with a sticking charm.

Exasperated Lily shot a glance at the marauders who all gave her innocent looks. As Lily hadn't seen who had cast the spell she didn't know who to yell at. One look at Remus and the fake confused shrug he gave her convinced her he was going to be no help whatsoever. Lily caught up with them and looked suspiciously at Black and Potter.

"Whats up Evans?" Black said brightly as all four boys kept walking.

"Gee I wonder Black" Lily said scathingly. James ran his hand through his hair as he looked at her, messing it into intricate whirls.

"I'd watch out Evans. Seems to be a sticky situation around here." He grinned at her while behind him Remus groaned and covered his face with his hand, as Peter fake vomited into his hands. "Goodness knows who will be stuck together next." Lily shot him a death glare but before she could say anything Sirius reached out and grabbed Abi.

"Prongs is right. What do you say Morgan? Fancy getting stuck on the hottest guy in Hogwarts?"

Abi smiled up at him. "Tell me when he gets here." she said and with a quick twist of her shoulders freed herself.

As the other marauders started to laugh Lily quickly walked past Potter and hurried to join up with Abi and Suse. "Hey Evans!" she heard Potter call after her.

"What!" Lily said in exasperation as she turned around.

He gave her a huge grin. "Want to go out with me?"

"Oh for the… no Potter! No! No! No!" Lily almost yelled. She whirled around and stormed back to where Abi and Suse were waiting laughing. "Of all the… real romantic… why does he even bother." Lily ranted as they made their way down to potions. Still despite everything she couldn't quite stop the small smile that formed on the edge of her mouth. Everything was definitely back to normal.

The girls walked into potions. Sev looked up eagerly at Lily who turned away and started to stalk over to the table she had been sharing with Abi and Suse. She still hadn't forgiven him. The next thing she knew however a hand had grabbed her by her shoulders and she was being positively dragged by Sev over to her old table.

"Hey!" a voice yelled in anger. Lily looked up to see Potter and Black in the doorway both with wands drawn.

"Get your filthy hands off of her Snivelly!" Potter yelled in anger. Sev let go of Lily's arm.

"Back off Potter" he sneered back. "It's not any of your business."

"It's our business when a Slytherin touches a Gryffindor, Snivelly." Black barked. "I think it's time you learnt some manners." He raised his wand. Lily stepped between them.

"Your hardly one to try and teach manners Black. And furthermore nothing to do with me will EVER be any of your and Potters business." She pulled Sev over to their old table and began pulling her books out of her bag angrily. It was only when she slammed her cauldron into place and turned her back resolutely away from Potter and Black that she realized she was now sitting next to Sev… who she wasn't talking to. Sev looked across at her and for a moment Lily wasn't sure which way to look. The next moment both she and Sev were laughing hard.

"Lily" Sev said eventually, wiping the tears from his eyes. "I wasn't smiling about what happened with Mulciber I swear."

"Sev" Lily said gently but he shook his head.

"No I need you to listen. Look you were right when you said things were different because… you know… of our houses. But the thing is you are my best friend and you always have been so I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I didn't take in to consideration how you feel about what happened to that McDonald girl."

Lily's brow crinkled at Sev's reference to 'that McDonald girl' but she nodded at him to continue. "So" he continued. "I've decided to make it up to you."

She gave him a puzzled look. "How?" she asked.

"With this" he said quietly and slid something across the table to her. She looked down and a wide grin spread across her face. It was Sev's potions book, the one that he wrote all of his spells in. Using one of these spells she would be able to get Mulciber back in a way that would be completely unexpected and he would have no idea how to retaliate.

"Good Morning Class" a portentous voice said and Lily quickly slipped Sev's potions book under her own. Technically Sev wasn't meant to have that particular book as it contained sixth year and above potions. He had actually procured it two years ago and together he and Lily had concocted many of the potions. They used to spend a lot of time together after class working on potions, changing ingredients so the potions worked better or making up their own. That was Lily's specialty. She wanted to be a healer so often worked hard on perfecting different potions and learning what combining ingredients did. Sev was good at that as well but he really shone when it came to making up spells. He had a real talent for it and Lily often told him that he would make great advancements in spell casting one day.

Everything that they had worked on together was written in Sev's potion book, although Lily had also written many notes for herself which she kept carefully hidden in her diary.

Slughorn had them working on a swelling potion this lesson. It was such a basic potion that Lily and Sev soon had put together theirs and set them to simmering. Since this was the year that they took their OWLs Slughorn was taking them over all the potions they had learned in previous years, as well as quizzing them about ingredients and properties of different potions. Lily and Sev fielded these questions easily (Slughorn often asked them, he took pride in them as they were both members of the group he labeled 'the Slug Club').

Once Slughorn had moved away from them (Abi was having trouble with her potion which was giving off sparks) Lily pulled the potions book back out. She started flicking through the pages as Sev watched. Every so often she would smile faintly at the sight of some potion or another, with it's many corrections and remember her and Sev's trials and tribulations.

Some of the spells she saw she recognized, some were new but at each one she would shake her head and move on. None of them seemed quite right to her. Then she saw it. Written in Sev's cramped writing along the very border of a page were the simple words 'Sectumsempra: for enemies'. Her eyes lit up.

"What about this one?" she whispered, shoving the book under Sev's nose. Sev looked at her with amusement as he bent over the book. The next moment his jaw tightened and he shook his head.

"No Lily," he said his expression unreadable, his black eyes somehow seeming even darker. "Not that one."

"Why not?" she asked. Sev just shook his head and Lily flipped her hair over her shoulder impatiently. "Come on Sev, it says for enemies and that's what I want."

"No you don't." Sev said quietly. Lily opened her mouth to argue but Sev shot her a warning look and indicated his head towards Slughorn. The professor was looking at them and Lily quickly bent back over her potion. She checked the time and gave her potion a quick few swirls. Slughorn was still watching so she gave the potion a thoughtful sniff then added some goats bladder. The potion burbled a little and thickened. Lily smiled in satisfaction.

Slughorn turned away from them and headed over the marauders table where Lily realized with annoyance Potter and Black were sitting in front of their simmering potions looking in their direction. Black looked grouchy but that could merely be because it looked like Peter was continuously asking him questions. Potter however was just sitting and glaring at Sev with hatred. As Lily glanced over he looked at her and she scowled at him. Out of pure pique she moved her seat closer to Sev's. There was a clatter from behind them and she heard Slughorn exclaim. "Careful please Mr Potter. One knock of your potion and we could have swollen limbs all over the place!"

Lily smirked in satisfaction and turned back to Sev. "Well?" she demanded. "Why cant I use that spell?"

Sev sighed and turned to look at her. "Lily just trust me okay. That spell… well it's just not one that you want to use. You say that you want to get back at Mulciber but I know you. You're a good person Lil and no matter how angry you are there is no way that you would ever…" his voice trailed off and he looked down at the book as he idly flicked through the pages. Suddenly he stopped. "Wait! That's it!" He pointed at some writing.

Lily looked down, squinting through the fumes that were starting to fill the potions lab. "Levicorpus" she whispered. "Non-verbal". She looked up at Sev impressed. "You created a non verbal spell? That's awesome Sev! What does it do?"

"Suspends a person upside down by their ankles" Sev said smugly. Lily suppressed a laugh as she briefly imagined Mulciber hanging upside down, then sighed and shook her head.

"Even so Sev, I don't really think that that will be enough."

He leant forward eagerly. "No, listen, I've got an idea. You know how right after Christmas there is the big quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor?" Lily nodded. "Well even though he's meant to be in detention Slughorn has given Mulciber permission to play." As Lily opened her mouth in outrage Sev cut across what she was going to say. "That's not the point Lily. Don't you see how perfect this is? The entire school will be at that match! If you time it perfectly for say, right after Slytherin kicks the Gryffindor teams ass and wins the match…" he shot her a wicked look.

"Yeah right" Lily said trying to suppress a smile.

"You wait for the moment when the two teams make it back to the ground and then right in front of the entire school…" he moved his arm in a wand flicking motion. A smile spread across Lily's face.

"It's an entirely new spell, no-one will know how to counteract it at first. And because it's non-verbal there is also no chance of them ever realizing that you were the one that cast it." Sev finished with a grin.

Lily's eyes sparkled as she smiled at him. Sev drew in a quick breath as he met her gaze. "It's perfect Sev! He'll be completely utterly humiliated in front of everyone." She looked down at the book then back up at him. "Thank you so much." Sev merely smiled looking back into her eyes.

Lily's good mood lasted throughout most of the day. Although she still had to wait until after Christmas to put her plan in to action it was going to be brilliant and just thinking about it made her smile. In her last lesson of the day, Defence Against The Dark Arts, she received some news that brought her right back down again.

"And finally" Professor Diggle said as they copied down the last of his notes on the board on the definition of dangerous magical creatures, "this brings us to the big project I want you to put together over the next couple of months. I will be separating you all into groups of two, within your houses and you will each have to write up a detailed essay three rolls long, as well as give a half hour talk to the class on a the species of deadly magical creature that you and your partner pull out of my hat."

Most of the class groaned and Lily looked around speculatively wondering who she would be paired with. James saw her looking and raised his eyebrows suggestively. Lily pulled a face and looked away. _Dear god_, she thought, _if your on my side at all, don't make it Potter_.

"So the groups are as follows: from Hufflepuff Amelia Bones and Giles Smith, from Gryffindor Abimentha Morgan and Remus Lupin." Abi smiled at Remus who smiled back. Lily felt a pang of something that felt surprisingly like jealousy. She turned back to Professor Diggle just as he paired James with Mary. _Phew_, thought Lily.

She was just grinning at Alice who was paired with Roger Maltern a fellow hufflepuff who everyone knew had a huge crush on her when Professor Diggle said "And from Gryffindor Sirius Black and Lily Evans." _Oh no_, Lily thought with an inner groan. She still wasn't talking to Black after the incident with Remus as she felt he had gotten off far to lightly for what he had done. Now she was going to be stuck working on a project with him, which considering she had never actually seen him study probably meant she would be doing all the work. _Brilliant_, Lily thought even as she heard Potter whisper to Sirius, "Oi! Put the good word in for me with Evans alright?"

That night however a very surprising thing happened to Lily. She had been sitting with Abi and Suse in the Gryffindor common room talking about the very latest fashion in witches robes that had been revealed that day in the witch weekly magazine when someone walked up to her and cleared his throat loudly. Lily had closed her eyes in resignation and looked up but to her surprise had not seen Potter but instead had seen an extremely uncomfortable looking Sirius Black standing there.

"What do you want Black?" she asked coldly.

Sirius ran his hands through his hair, causing the third year girls behind him to sigh longingly. Lily rolled her eyes and looked at Sirius. "Hey Evans… I was just wondering. Could I have a word?" he said quietly. Lily stared him in surprise as did Abi and Suse. Lily and Sirius never really talked. A faint blush lit his cheeks and he indicated the portrait hole. "You know, in private." Lily glanced at Abi and Suse who were looking at her completely mystified.

"Okay" she said slowly and got to her feet. As Sirius started to lead her out Lily was aware of the death glares been shot at her by those girls that liked to follow Sirius around, a bunch of fourth and third year girls. As they walked past one of them, a fourth year called Lucille Tubberman said in a loud whisper, "First James Potter, now Sirius Black. She certainly likes to mess around with those boys doesn't she." Lily shot her a death glare over Sirius's shoulder. She and Lucille had never got on. Lucille desperately wanted James to ask her out and had, rather accurately unfortunately, labeled Lily as the reason for her lack of success. For his part Sirius just wrapped his hand around Lily's arm and walked faster.

They clambered out of the portrait hole and Sirius indicated that he wanted to keep walking. Eventually he led Lily into a disused classroom. She stood there uncertainly as Sirius looked at her. "Well?" she asked eventually. The classroom was dark which made it difficult for her to make out Sirius expression but she got the impression he wasn't really looking at her. Still Sirius said nothing and Lily turned for the door in exasperation. "Thanks for the walk Black, it's not been a waste of my time at all" she said as she started to walk away.

"No.. wait!" Sirius said suddenly and she turned to face him again. "I wanted to… I wanted to say thank you." he muttered.

"What?" Lily asked, unsure if she had heard right.

He looked up at her. "I wanted to say thank you. You know for the other night… for you know… slapping me."

"What?!" Lily said even louder, disbelief ringing in every syllable.

"It's just that, if you hadn't, if we hadn't have argued… then I might not… I might not of come to my senses and gone to help. And if I hadn't of been there at that point… James might have… Remus might have…" he trailed off. After a moment he sighed in frustration and started to pace. Lily stood there unsure what to say. Was Sirius Black actually thanking her for telling him off? Was he actually admitting that he had done something wrong?

Sirius sighed again and looked at her. "I did something that was really, really stupid. I endangered the lives of my best friends for my own stupid, selfish reasons. And then instead of doing the right thing, instead of trying to fix it I let James go out there and risk himself, his life, to stop what I had started." He shrugged. "I really would have made my parents proud." He muttered.

"Anyway there you were. All of sudden and I don't know, you just kind of set it all straight. Just like that. I've always liked that about you Evans. Your straight and to the point and your always looking out for everyone. I'm sorry about what I said to you. About you not caring if something happened to Prongs. You two have your issues, " and he gave a weak chuckle. "but I know that you would never ever for a single moment want anything bad to happen to him or to anyone. That's just not who you are. You genuinely care about everyone… even people like Snivelly, sorry I mean Snape," he looked at her sadly. "Even about people like me."

Lily looked at him for a long silent moment. She remembered back to that night, remembered the look in Sirius's eyes, the look of pain, fear and recrimination as he shouted at her. She remembered that and looked at the boy standing in front of her, his eyes shadowed, one hand absently twisting the sleeve of his Hogwarts uniform. Finally she said, "You're not a bad person Sirius. I don't know what your family is like or what you've had to deal with but I do know this. You're a Gryffindor. Out of all your family you chose to be here, in this house, and when it all came down to it you were there, right in the middle of everything, fighting by your bestfriends side." She looked at him a moment more. "If it means anything… I forgive you."

He gave a sigh and smiled at her softly. "Thanks Evans, that means a lot."

"You know" she said quietly. "My friends call me Lily."

"Are we friends Evans?"

"We could be"

………………………………………………….

Things were finally back to normal for Lily. She and Sev were friends again, the marauders were all talking and after their Gryffindors stunning victory in Quidditch against Hufflepuff the entire house was in a fantastic mood. Christmas was now approaching quickly and Lily was starting to look forward to her next Hogsmeade trip. It was usually planned right before Christmas so the students could all purchase their presents.

Even working with Sirius was nowhere near as bad as Lily had initially feared. The very next day he had shown up in the library where Lily was studying with a stack-load of background information on Dementors (their dark-arts creature). He didn't leave it there either but then spent the next couple of weeks working diligently on the project with her so that they soon had both the essay and oral completed way ahead of schedule. It wasn't due until after the Christmas holidays.

It was with a certain feeling of odd regret that Lily signed her name at the bottom of the last essay before rolling it up and sealing it. She placed it into her bag, along with the other three rolls and looked at Sirius. Now that the project was over she knew they would probably go back to spending their time with other people and she was surprised to realize she would miss his company. Away from his friends Sirius was kind and thoughtful and rather outrageously funny. _Why did he have to act like such a noob in front of everyone else?_ She wondered sadly as she looked at him. He was so likable when he was just himself. Probably Potters influence, she decided. He certainly seemed to bring the worst out in people.

Sirius seemed to share some of her feelings as he looked back at her. "Well I spose this is it then Lily." He said with a off-hand smile. "Time for you to go back to screeching like a wounded cat every time you see me."

Lily fought back a smile. "And time for you to go back to calling me Evans full-time." She teased gently. Although Sirius had taken to calling her Lily when they were alone together he still insisted on calling her Evans in public. It was to save her from the inevitable jealousy from his many fans, he had insisted. Then he had winked at her and said that maybe it was because he didn't want the whole school to think he had become one of her fan club. Plus James would beat him to death. Lily hadn't been able to help but laugh.

"Hey I'd be honored if I was you." Sirius said, casually leaning back in his chair. "This is the longest relationship I've ever been in with a girl."

"And you weren't even getting some."

"Well I don't like to appear crude." Lily laughed and pushed the rest of her thing into her bag. Sirius sprang to his feet and gathered his own. "Back to the commonroom?" he asked with a smile. Lily nodded and yawned. It was already getting late and she was really quite tired. "Here Lily-girl your tired, let me" Sirius said and he took her bag from her and slung it over his back.

She smiled sleepily at him. "Thank Sirius, you're a gem." They walked companionably back to Gryffindor Tower, Lily feeling so tired that she decided she'd go straight up to bed.

When they entered to the tower it was to a blast of noise, which was surprising when it was so late. It was immediately followed by a loud cry of "Sirrikins!" and Lily was roughly pushed out the way by Hannah Ekins, Sirius's current girl of the month, as she flung her arms around him. Lily rolled her eyes and mouthed "Sirrikins?" to Sirius over Hannahs head. Sirius shrugged helplessly at her and managed to hand her her bag before Hannah pulled him into a snog. Lily shook her head in disgust and walked over to where Abs and Suse were sitting.

"What's going on?" she asked as she plopped down in her favorite squishy armchair.

"Hogsmeade date has been announced" Suse said her eyes glinting in excitement. "It's the last day before we leave for the Christmas Hols"

"Brilliant" Lily said sitting up in excitement, her tiredness temporarily forgotten. "I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to have one."

There was a loud bang and everyone turned to see James standing with his wand out. "Ladies and Gentleman" he cried. "Now that our esteemed colleague has arrived," and he gestured to Sirius who had obviously managed to free himself from Hannah. "We would like to announce that on the night of the Hogsmeade Trip there will be a Christmas Party hosted by us, your friendly marauders as a going away present for everyone!" The room erupted into cheers and claps and even Lily smiled. Say what you would about them but the marauders hosted great parties. They hadn't done one yet this year, except for the usual after Quidditch celebration and Lily had actually begun to wonder if they were going to.

James waved his wand so it made the same banging noise. "Dress attire will be formal so make sure you look your best ladies and gents and we will see you there! Party starts at 6 o'clock, no need to go down to dinner, food will be provided."

Everyone started talking excitedly about the party. The girls were just wondering what they were going to wear when they heard Hannah squeal out. "Sirrikins are you going to be my date for the party?" Abi winced in disgust.

"That girls voice could melt lead." she sighed.

"That's a thought though. What about dates?" Suse said. "I doubt I'll be allowed to bring Dennis." Her relationship with the easy-going Ravenclaw was still going strong and both girls knew that he had invited her to meet his parents over the holidays.

"Well since Lily and I are both dateless, I doubt that's going to be much of an issue for us either." Abi said bending back over her witch weekly magazine.

"Then why are you looking at robes?" Lily asked with a grin.

"Well I still want to look hot don't I" Abi said smiling smugly back at her making both girls laugh.

"Well I still have some money left over from start of term" Lily said idly flicking through another magazine. "How about we go shopping while we are in Hogsmeade?"

"Sounds good to me" Suse said, putting aside her own magazine. "Maybe I can arrange to meet Dennis after the party or something, just so he can see what I look like."

"Oh my god. What has she done?" Abi suddenly said in a shocked voice, causing Lily and Suse to look up. They looked in the direction she was looking and goggled in astonishment. Lucille Tubberman was walking across the room. She was still wearing her uniform but the top was buttoned down low and her skirt seemed much higher then usual. There was no mistaking her target. James was sitting surrounded by a bunch of girls who were talking about the party and batting their eye lashes at him.

Lucille slipped in between them and stood in front of James. She bent over as if to talk to him in such an obvious ploy to show him her cleavage that Lily found herself clenching her fists. If James showed any attention to this girl then Lily would think much, much less of him.

"Look at Peter" Suse whispered giggling. Lily shot him a look and had to hastily suppress her own laughter. Peter obviously had no problems with Lucille's attire and was openly goggling at her as she flirted with James. Lily looked back at James with a slight frown on her face. He was smiling at Lucille as she talked apparently listening with interest to whatever she was saying. Lily couldn't hear what it was but she had no trouble guessing as Lucille leant forward a bit more and the other girls around James went stony faced. James looked at her in surprise for a moment then smiled and said something back. Before Lily had time to wonder what it was Lucille had straightened and whirled around.

She looked furious and to Lily's complete and utter shock came storming over to her. "I hope you happy." She hissed at Lily. "Because of you and your flirty little tricks no girl can have him. You make me sick you little slut."

"Hey!" Abi said jumping to her feet. "You're going to back off right now." She eyed Lucille's uniform. "And with that get-up on I wouldn't be calling anyone a slut. If James prefers Lily over you maybe it's because she got genuine beauty and doesn't have to get half naked to impress a boy." Lucille eyed Abi slightly apprehensively. Everyone knew it wasn't a good idea to get on Abi's bad-side. She was quite the duelist (having four brothers constantly keeping her on her toes helped) and her anger could be quite extreme.

"Whatever" she said and turning on her heel stalked away.

"What was that all about?" a quiet voice asked. "What did Lucille say to Lily?" They looked up to see Remus had walked over looking concerned.

"Just the usual bial" Lily said with a shrug, standing up and picking up her bag. "I'm pretty tired, I think I'll go to bed."

"Lily don't let that dressed up little worm effect you." Suse said quietly.

"That's an insult to worms" Abi muttered

Lily shook her head. "She didn't" she smiled. "I really am just tired. Goodnight all." And she walked past them towards the stairs. A hand grabbed her arm.

"So Evans." James Potter said as he grinned down at her. "You and Me. Hogsmeade trip then a cosy little couch with a view of the party?"

"Excuse me?!" she said shaking him off. "What, you just think that if by some miracle I actually agreed to go to Hogsmeade with you that that would mean that you could get whatever you want? That I'd just start canoodling with you all over the place?" She glared at him. "If you want that kind of action then I suggest you go call Lucille back, she certainly looked like she would enjoy it."

James frowned, "I don't want to go out with Lucille. I turned her down."

"Not before you gave her a good looking over though did you" Lily said, her cheeks flushing with anger. "I saw the way you were smiling at her. If that's what you think you're going to get from me Potter, you've got another thing coming."

"No… I… come on Evans wait a minute." James said as she started to walk up the stairs.

"No I think I've seen enough for one day Potter. I'm going to bed" she said without turning around. She walked into the dormitory and slammed the door. She couldn't exactly say what it was about the sight of Lucille all over James, or the way he had smiled at her that had upset her but it had. She was completely utterly furious with him. She sat on her bed, hauled off her shoes and got changed into her pj's. Crawling into bed she lay down and stared at the roof of her bed. Maybe it was because she was so tired. When you were tired you tended to be more emotional and get upset by the weirdest things. That was it, she decided as she rolled over. She was just tired and emotional and needed a good nights sleep. In the morning it would all be better and she certainly wouldn't give a damn who James Potter did or didn't flirt with.

_Ahh Lily, why do you lie to yourself? Please review and let me know what you think._


	10. Celebrations

_Okay so firstly, I'm not very happy with this chapter. I couldn't seem to get it to flow right and frankly in the end I've just given up. As it turns out it seems a lot more difficult to write the happy scenes then to write the angsty ones. Who knew_

_As always, I don't have a beta so I apologize for any mistakes and I am of course not the illustrious JK. If I was this story would be better and I'd be making squillions from it._

**CHAPTER NINE**

**- Celebrations -**

The remaining weeks until Christmas seemed to fly by. Finally the upheavals that had dogged Lily throughout the first part of the year seemed to have ceased and she found herself looking eagerly towards Christmas, as well as the beginning of a new year.

On the final day before holidays she was woken up by a pillow flying straight into her face. She sat up with a yelp just as a giggling Suse sent her other pillow flying into Abi.

The moment it hit Abi she leapt straight into the air like she'd been shocked and fell straight through her curtains onto the ground. Suse collapsed backwards in laughter and Lily couldn't control her own giggles as Abi pulled herself back up, looking like a stunned mullet. The next moment both Lily and Suse found themselves under siege as Abi attacked both of them with her own pillows. A monster pillow fight insured and it wasn't until Lily's burst and showered them all with feathers that Abi called a time-out.

Trying to pull feathers out of her hair Lily staggered back to her feet from where she had fallen onto her bed. "I liked that pillow." she said in a complaining tone which would have worked a lot better if she had been able to remove the giant smile that still lit up her face.

"Well that's what you get for waking me up with a pillow." Abi muttered back, trying unsuccessfully to remove the feathers that had filled the back of her pajama top.

"Yeah Lily" Suse teased, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes even as she shook her head disapprovingly. "What were you thinking?"

"What!" Lily exclaimed and she made to launch herself at Suse, intent on tickling her friend to death. Unfortunately her foot got tangled in the blankets lying over the floor and instead she rather ungracefully tumbled through the air to land sprawled at Suse's feet. Both girls broke into laughter once more and it was only with a great deal of effort that they managed to control themselves enough to pull a bright red Lily to her feet.

She pulled her arms out of theirs and putting her nose into the air faked an insulted tone as she grabbed some clothes and haughtily told them she was going to get changed. Thus doing so she didn't see the door open as she reached for it and she walked smack bang into Mary as she tried to enter the dorm. Down she fell again.

As laughter rang in her ears she peered up at Mary's shocked face. "Are you okay Lily?" she offered a hand. "Why are you covered in feathers?" Lily waved her hand away.

"You know what I think I'll just stay here. At this point it seems safer."

The girls laughter filled the room.

..

Eventually with much coaxing Abi and Suse managed to convince Lily to leave her safety position on the floor. All three girls dressed themselves in warm Muggle clothes. Today was the day they got to visit Hogsmeade, but it was chilly enough out that they needed their thickest school cloaks.

The moment they entered the Great Hall James stood up on his bench. "HEY EVANS!" he yelled over the sound of everyone talking. "Wanna go to Hogsmeade with me?" The entire hall went quite for a moment then students everywhere burst into giggles. Lily went bright red as James gave her his most loathsome marauder grin. Fortunately she was saved from answering by an extremely annoyed Professor McGonagall.

"Mr Potter!" she spluttered and Sirius yanked James back down.

"Yes Professor?" He asked his eyes wide and innocent. She looked down her nose at him, clearly unimpressed.

"I do not think Ms Evans appreciated being accosted in front of everyone. Next time you decide to ask her out, and unfortunately" and here she gave Lily a sympathetic glance. "I have no doubt that you will, a subtler more romantic approach would probably be appropriate."

"Any ideas Professor?" James asked, a slightly wicked look on his face.

McGonagalls' seemed to think it over as her lips twitched. "Say it with flowers, Mr Potter"

The girls giggled and abruptly James seemed to realize that not a single one of them were actually looking at him. Slowly he turned round to be confronted by the sight of Sirius, Remus and Peter all holding conjured bunches of flowers and giving each other sappy looks. He couldn't help but join in the laughter as McGonagall swept past him towards the head table.

Lily and the girls walked further down the table to where Felicia and Mary where sitting, both of them pouring over fashion magazines for Hogsmeade stores. Lily loved this time of year. Everyone was in high spirits with Christmas just round the corner and the girls spent breakfast laughing and joking about all sorts of things.

Abi was just about to take a huge gulp of pumpkin juice when a paper bird flew into the side of her head. "Ouch!" she gasped, spilling juice everywhere. The look of shock on her face was so hilarious that the girls all burst into fits of giggles. Abi scowled and began siphoning up the juice with her wand as Lily captured the fluttering bird in her grasp. She unfolded it. "Slytherin?" she asked, confused.

Abi held at her hand and Lily passed the paper over. "What does that mean?" Abi said, turning it over to see if there was anything on the other-side.

"It's Sirius's writing" Lily said, taking the paper back. All five girls looked over at the marauders. Not a single one of them were looking over at them, instead they were all intently watching the Slytherin table.

With a feeling of anticipated dread Lily turned to look. There didn't seem to be anything unusual going on. All of them were just sitting there eating breakfast or drinking juice, a few gossiping just like they had been a moment before.

The next moment all of that changed.

Antlers sprouted from heads, like daisies in the snow. At the same time each of their noses glowed bright red, so the entire table was lit up like a Christmas tree. There was a brief pause as table after table realized what had happened then chaos erupted. All along the Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables students were collapsing in laughter. The Slytherins meanwhile were yelling in horror.

"Look at Slughorn" Abi giggled. Lily turned and gaped in amazement. A big white bushy beard had burst from his face and his robes had turned red. With his large stomach there was no doubt that he looked exactly like Father Christmas. It took a lot of effort but Lily managed to repress her laughter. She turned to glare up at the marauders and saw Sirius raise his hand.

He held up three fingers and as Lily watched slowly lowered them one by one. The last finger went down.

"WHAT THE?" a voice shrieked out and they all whipped around just in time to see a seventh year Ravenclaw rise to his feet, desperately trying to reach the tiny wings that had sprouted from his back. The next moment a glowing halo appeared over his forehead as his cheeks went an unnatural rosy red. Squeals erupted from the table as student after student turned into mini angels. Without being told this time Lily glanced over at Flitwick, the Ravenclaw head of house. The most magnificent wings Lily had every seen had sprouted from his shoulders, so large in fact that they almost dwarfed him.

Lily shot another look at the marauders who were all looking far too smug. Hufflepuff and Gryffindor students had just long enough to shoot each other trepiditious looks, wondering who would be next when it happened.

Giant stars blossomed from the heads of Hufflepuff students as they sprouted pine branches and tinsel wrappings. Lily looked at Professor Sprout and this time couldn't control her giggles. She had turned completely into a Christmas tree, with flashing bulbs and decorations. Her face was just visible through her branches, looking extremely shocked.

Up and down the Gryffindor table students were shooting each other extremely worried looks. They were the only ones left.

"Surely the marauders wouldn't get us would they?" Felicia asked, her eyes wide. Lily and Abi exchanged looks.

"They would" they both said in a resigned voice.

A series of popping noises was the only warning they had. Books appeared in the hands of Mary, Felicia and Suse. All down the table students found themselves springing to their feet in unison, books firmly in their grasp, and without a hitch in time, three quarters of the table burst into "Jingle Bells". Lily looked up the table at McGonagall who was holding a thin stick from which the words of the carol was being sprouted from and was wearing a white curled wig. Despite the fact that her hands were moving along to the beat, conducting the music, her face looked simply furious.

The remaining teachers, non-enchanted students (and quite a few of the ones who had been charmed at the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables) were all laughing now. Dumbledore himself was chuckling merrily as he examined Professor Sprouts decorations. A laughing Professor Sinistra and Professor Diggle were holding Professor Flitwick upright. Without them his wings seemed so heavy he kept overbalancing backwards. Professor Slughorn seemed quite delighted with the whole affair. He had even conjured a Santa hat and placed it on his head.

As Lily watched Alice shook her pine needles cheerfully as a laughing Amelia reached her "branches" up to feel the glowing star on top of her head. Behind her, at the Ravenclaw table, Suse's boyfriend Dennis appeared to be challenging his friends to see who could flap their wings the fastest while a couple of seats down from him some fourth years were using the feathers on their wings to unmercifully tickle their friends that had not been enchanted.

Further up the Gryffindor table several of the caroling seventh years had added high kicking dance moves to their song, and in fact as far as Lily could see the only ones who seemed unimpressed were the Slytherins. Although she felt a twinging sympathy for Sev, whose Rudolph nose was amongst the brightest, she couldn't help but join in with her friends giggles as she and Abi pulled faces at the other girls, so their singing came out between snorts of laughter.

The Gryffindor carolers came to a rousing end as James, Sirius, Peter and Remus all jumped up onto the table. "Merry Christmas from the Marauders!" they yelled out simultaneously as glittering gold exploded from their wand tips, covering the Great Hall. As it blanketed everything, Lily could clearly see that each marauder had aimed for a different table and as the gold settled the enchantments they had created faded away. The Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables burst into applause as the boys took bows.

They clambered down from their tables, grinning victoriously at each other. A voice cut through their celebrations.

"If you don't mind Mr Potter, Mr Black." McGonagall snapped at them.

The teachers were all still enchanted.

All in all it was a wonderful way to start the last day at school before holidays.

..

Lily regarded herself a little bit nervously in the mirror. She should never have let the girls talk her into buying this dress. She would have been perfectly happy in her Muggle clothes. It wasn't that the dress didn't look good. Lily was willing enough to admit that the green matched her eyes perfectly, as well as the dragonfly clip she'd used in her hair. She just wasn't used to dressing up nicely while at school.

They'd had quite a bit of fun shopping in Hogsmeade. All five girls had left together. After a quick stop at Honeydukes they had hit the clothing stores. It had taken awhile but finally they all had a new dress to wear, the girls practically bullying Lily into purchasing the dress she was wearing, refusing to take no for an answer. Eventually Abi had threatened Lily with either going in the dress or being made to go naked and Lily had caved. She didn't think her friend would actually make her do that but she knew Abi would get her revenge somehow. It was easier just to go along. And the dress was pretty.

She twirled slightly in front of the mirror, catching how the silky material flared slightly along the bottom, cut-off just below the knees to show off her legs. The halter top worried her slightly, with the way it revealed a good portion of her back. She sighed and twirled around again.

She was still staring at herself uncertainly in the mirror when the door opened and Abi walked in. Lily stared at her friend. Her long dark hair was left down for once, instead of in it's usual ponytail, framing her face and heightening the blueness of her eyes. To add to this affect the strap-less pale blue of her dress gave her skin an almost brown look, making her look tanned for the first time ever.

"Wow you look beautiful Abs" Lily whispered. Abi shrugged this off.

"I doubt anyone will notice me next to you Lil's, you look amazing."

Consternation returned and Lily bit her lip, staring back at herself in the mirror. A hand reached out and grabbed her arm firmly. "Come on Lily" Abi said as she practically dragged her out the bathroom. "Time to stop fussing and get down there. The parties already well underway."

"Then why aren't you down there?" Lily asked. Abi blushed slightly.

"Well Suse left a while ago to show Dennis her dress before the party started and you know… well I didn't want to go alone… oh shut up" Lily couldn't hide the smirk that was flashing across her face.

"Come on then" she sighed and with a feeling of impending doom looped her arm through Abi's and led the way down the stairs. She had to stop at the top of the stairs as the common room came into view. The marauders had done an amazing job! The entire room was filled with red and gold Christmas decorations, including a giant lion dressed as Santa sitting in a sleigh being pulled by two massive reindeer. As Lily watched one of the reindeer lowered it's head and the lion reached into it's sack and handed a present to a timid first-year.

"Oh wow" she whispered.

"I'll say" said a voice from not too far away and as they walked down the last of the stairs Frank walked over to them clutching three butterbeers. He handed them to the girls before taking a step back and giving them both an admiring glance. "You two look lovely."

"Thanks Frank." Lily said smiling back at him. "You're looking quite dashing yourself." He grinned in reply then suddenly his face dropped.

"Oh no" he whispered and a green tinge hit his face.

"What's wrong?" Abi asked in alarm as Lily looked in the direction he was looking. She spotted the problem immediately. Suse had just entered through the portrait hole with Dennis on her arm and behind them… Alice and Amelia. Both girls were dressed in very pretty robes and Alice had pulled her mass of curls up so they formed a halo around her head. Obviously Suse had decided to invite them to come along, something of which Frank had no idea.

Abruptly Frank sagged down, grabbing at Lily even as he placed himself behind Abi. "Hide me!" he whispered frantically. Lily looked at him stunned. "Quick Lily! Before I do something stupid."

Abi started to laugh and Lily couldn't quite conceal her own grin. "Don't be silly Frank. I'm sure you'll be just fine. And besides when is there a better time to see her then now when you're all dressed up and looking handsome."

"You don't understand Lily" Frank said a frantic look in his eyes. "I might look okay now but with in ten minutes I'll probably be covered in chocolate pudding or something."

"I doubt it's that bad…" Abi started before Frank interrupted her.

"Yesterday she looked at me at lunch and I tipped an entire cauldronful of soup over myself." Both girls doubled up with laughter and Frank threw his arms despairingly in the air. "Fine then. I'll just hide myself." He declared and darted off into the darkest cranny of the common room. A moment later to their disbelieving eyes Lily and Abi saw a Christmas tree lift through the air and lower itself so it almost completely hid Frank from view.

"Lily!" a voice called, dragging her attention away. Remus crossed to greet them, a broad smile on his face. He was dressed in a tight grey sweater, with a black tie and dark black pants. The grey contrasted with the grey in his hair, turning it almost silver. "Hey Abi." He greeted them both cheerfully. "You both look wonderful."

"Thanks Remie" Lily said softly as she felt warmth brush through her cheek. "You look very nice yourself." He grinned at her and she found herself needing to look away. Her cheeks flushed again and she couldn't help but wonder why the common room suddenly felt so hot.

"The decorations are great Remus" Abi said, drawing attention away from her.

"Thanks" Remus said and as he started to explain what they had done Abi threw Lily a significant look. Lily repressed her sigh. Obviously her too perceptive friend had noticed Lily's awkwardness. Undoubtedly there would be questions later.

Over Abi's shoulder however Lily noticed something far more interesting. Sirius was seated on a couch, dressed all in black, his hair pulled back into a pony-tail. Across his lap Hannah Ekins sat in a dress that seemed far too short and tight. Although she was chatting away too Sirius, her eyes on his face, it was obvious that she was not retaining his attention. Instead his focus seemed to be on Abi and as she leant forward, closer to Remus, to see what ever he was pointing at, Sirius expression darkened. A moment later he pulled Hannah off and with barely a word to her strode towards them. Lily caught his eye and gave him a knowing look. Although his cheeks tinged slightly, his still came over, turning resolutely away from Lily's face.

"Hey Morgan." He said, running a hand over his smoothed hair. "Looking good"

"You too" Abi said cheerfully. For a moment Sirius's face lightened, then it fell as Abi turned away from him and back to her conversation with Remus.

Despite herself Lily couldn't help but feel a little twinge of sympathy for him and she stepped around Remus and Abi to come to his side. "Nice party" she commented.

"Thanks Evans" Sirius said in an absent tone, glancing towards her. He stopped a moment and gave her a much longer look. "Wow Evans. You look great. If Prongs wouldn't kill me I'd be tempted to give you a try."

"Thanks Black" Lily said with a roll of her eyes.

"Hey guys" a beaming Suse said as she, Dennis, Alice and Amelia joined them, clutching butterbeers and cakes. The fawn dress she'd bought looked beautiful on her and Dennis couldn't seem to stop smiling proudly down at her. Lily smiled at both of them. She was liking Dennis more and more with the way he treated her friend. The look in his eyes told Lily that he could not seem to believe his own luck. Suse was such a sweet, gentle person and Lily couldn't have been happier with the way her relationship was going.

"Hey Remus!" Alice said brightly as she walked up. "Great prank this morning."

Remus shrugged modestly. "It was James idea."

"Figures" Lily muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Oh c'mon Lily, you know you thought it was a great as the rest of us did." Abi said poking her playfully in the ribs.

Lily smiled reluctantly. "It was some pretty amazing magic." she admitted.

"How did you do it?" Amelia asked, looking at Remus and Sirius.

"Snuck down to the kitchens and convinced the house-elves to serve spiked pumpkin juice." It was Sirius who answered and it seemed to Lily he deliberately looked away from Abi as he spoke. Lily thought back to the tumultuous events of this morning. Sirius's message bird had hit Abi just in time to stop her from drinking her juice. She grinned.

"Nice" Alice said appreciatively.

"You know guys this is absolutely amazing." Amelia said as she looked around the common room. "Are all your parties like this?"

"Pretty much." Abi said. "It helps when you have them planned by the marauders."

"Why Morgan I think that was actually a compliment." Sirius interrupted in fake amazement. "Are you feeling well?"

"Shuddup Sirius" Abi said punching him in the arm. "You just can't help yourself can you."

"What can I say?" Sirius said giving her a love-lorn look. "Your beauty has stolen away my sense's and left me a wordless fool."

"Well that explains a lot" Lily said dryly even as Abi rolled her eyes.

"Er Padfoot," Remus interrupted quickly. "I probably wouldn't have…"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" a voice shrieked out behind them making Lily and Sirius jump a foot in the air in shock. Unbeknown to them Hannah had walked up behind them, most likely in an attempt to capture Sirius's attention once more. Now she looked absolutely furious, as a few tears slid down her face. Sirius took a step backwards in alarm.

"Nothing Hannah." he said quickly. He shot a pleading look at Lily as more tears slipped down Hannah's face. Shooting him an annoyed look back she stepped forward.

"He was just mucking around Hannah." she gestured to the others. "We were all saying stupid things, right guys?" Everyone quickly nodded in agreement. Hannah choked back a sob.

"Are you sure?" Lily felt a little guilty for lying as Hannah stared at her but she nodded.

"C'mon Hannah." Sirius said taking her hand. "It's Morgan. I would never be interested in someone like her. I mean get real"

_Idiot,_ Lily thought barely restraining from slapping her head in exasperation even as Abi said sharply. "Thanks a lot Black! Good to know I'm so hideous." Sirius swung back around, a look of real panic in his eyes now.

"Oh c'mon Morgan you know I don't mean it like that."

"So you do like her!" Hannah interrupted again, her eyes narrowing. Abi threw them both a disgusted look.

"Whatever. Like I care what a fathead like you thinks anyway." she turned and stormed over to the chairs by the fireplace and sat down, still looking extremely angry. A brush of hair tickled Lily's cheek.

"You should probably go." Remus whispered in a resigned tone in her ear. "This is probably going to get messy." Lily nodded.

She turned to the others. "How about we go sit over at the fireplace with Abs. I'll grab us some cakes and stuff."

"I'll help." Alice said quickly as the others nodded. They wove their way through the crowd, responding to greetings, heading to the long tables set up on the opposite end of the common room. As they moved Lily couldn't help but notice that Alice seemed distracted, looking over every inch of the room. By the time they reached the table a resigned look had spread over Alice's face and she looked positively glum as she helped Lily load two plates with sweets.

"What's up?" Lily asked, although she had a reasonable idea of what was going on. Alice gave her a startled look.

"Oh… nothing really." She bit her lip then went on in a would be causal tone that Lily saw right through. "I was just looking for people I know."

"Like who?" Lily asked quietly as she loaded up her plate with treacle tarts.

"Oh I dunno. It'd be nice to chat to Remus but I think he's stuck in that whole Sirius mess now. I haven't spoken to Vanessa since our last prefects meeting but she's over there with her boyfriend." She looked around again. "Um, I don't spose you can see Frank anywhere." Suddenly her words came out in a rush. "Only I know he tried out for chaser and my brother leant me this really good book on chaser training, you know he's on the Chudley Canon's team, and I thought he might like it…" She looked up into Lily's face as her cheeks went red.

An internal battle warred inside Lily and she found herself struggling not to glance over to the tree that made up Frank's hiding place. She gave an internal sigh. "Sorry Alice I haven't seen him since I first got down here. Maybe he's in his dorm."

Alice nodded her eyes sad. "Sure that makes sense. I'll just wait till the next prefect meeting I guess."

Wanting to help somehow without betraying either of them Lily nodded. "Well he tends to get to meetings early these days so that might make it easier rather than having to find time after the meeting. I don't know if he'll be down here much tonight. It's kinda a couple's thing with all the mistletoe and stuff and he doesn't have a girl that he's interested in."

Alice visibly brightened. "Sounds good to me. I mean meeting before the prefect meeting starts of course." She hastily qualified.

"Of course." Lily said nodding, hiding the twinge of her lips. She gathered up both plates and they turned to head back to the others. She hid a groan. Standing right behind them, his cocky grin firmly in place was James Potter.

"Chinkings good to see you." He nodded briefly at Alice before focusing entirely on Lily. "Evans." And his voice took on a softer more carressive tone. It shivered along Lily's spine and she scowled at him. "You look… pretty."

"Thanks Potter" she said sarcastically in reply. Although she didn't want to admit it she felt a slight twinge at his rather pneumonic description. Don't start getting into that again, she mentally scolded herself. Who cares if Potter only though she looked pretty? She scowled at him again even as against her will she noted the casual looking brown top and tie combo he was wearing set off the hazelness of his eyes and his usual messy hair look.

She pushed past him, not noticing the disappointed look that flashed into his eyes. She hadn't gotten far however when a different sort of commotion started behind her. She swung around and too her astonishment saw Frank sprawled across the ground, directly in front of Alice, with cakes absolutely everywhere. Obviously he had decided to come out of hiding and with the luck that only he seemed to have had walked directly into the one person he wanted to avoid. Alice quickly offered a hand and beat-red he accepted it. The moment he was on his feet however he dropped it like it was a hot potato.

"Not so fast you two" a voice roared before Frank could make his escape. They both swung around to see a beaming Sirius standing atop of a chair and pointing at something directly above their heads. Both of them looked up and Frank's mouth dropped in horror. Lily couldn't believe her eyes. Out of all the places in the entire common room Frank and Alice had managed to run into each other directly under a piece of mistletoe, and create enough noise to have attracted the attention of the one marauder guaranteed not to let them get away with it.

Frank looked appalled as he glanced down at Alice, back up at the mistletoe and then down at Alice again. Lily was close enough to hear him as he took two steps backward, mumbling quickly that she didn't have to and he completely understood.

For a moment Alice seemed to be in shock then her eyes narrowed and she closed the gap between them in seconds. "You are without a doubt," she hissed up at Frank. "The biggest idiot I have EVER met in my entire life!"

Frank gaped at her for a moment. "I'm really, really sorry." He gabbled looking panic stricken.

"SHUT UP!" Alice yelled and his mouth snapped shut. The next second she grabbed the tie around his neck and yanked him forward as she raised her lips to his. Without any pause his arms flew around her and he held her close as the entire room burst into applause.

The biggest smile broke out on Lily's face and she made her way over to the others who were all smiling broadly themselves. "Finally" Amelia sighed as she sank back into her seat. "Now I won't have to sit up and hear her go on and on about how much she wished he liked her anymore."

"No, now you'll probably have to listen to her go on and on about how much they like each other." Lily said with a laugh as she slid the food onto the small table in front of them. Amelia made a face and poked her tongue out at her.

"At least Frank might be able to go through a day without getting fresh bruises" Abi added dryly and they giggled.

"Where's Suse and Dennis?" Lily asked.

"Private time" Abi said pointing over her shoulder to where Suse and Dennis were sitting close together on a small couch. Lily eyed her friend but she seemed to be completely over Sirius's accidental insult.

"So Evans" a voice said behind Lily's head. She shut her eyes in resignation. "Quite a little show between Chinkings and Longbottom eh?" She looked up at James leaning over the top of her chair. His eyes twinkled at her. She sighed and got to her feet.

"I suppose so." she shrugged.

"Want to do a repeat performance?" James asked, the grin Lily loathed breaking across his face.

"What!" Lily exploded in anger. James pointed above his head. There hovering over his head was an obviously bewitched piece of mistletoe. He winked.

"C'mon Evans, a kiss with the most wanted guy in the room."

Disgust filled her but before she succumbed to the instinctive urge to hex him she caught a glimpse of what was happening over Potters shoulder. She let her features soften and a wistful smile touch her lips. Her head dropped and she gazed shyly up at Potter from under her lashes. "You know I would" she said softly. A disbelieving, smile broke over Potters face as he leant closer. Lily turned the corner of her mouth down and widened her eyes sadly. "But unfortunately it looks like Peters too busy with every other girl."

James face shutdown as giggling started behind her and a bark of laughter came from behind him. Sirius slapped him on the back. "Too bad Prongs" he laughed. "She got you again." Behind him Remus winked at Lily and James threw a black look over his shoulder at the direction Lily was looking.

Despite his obvious disappointment he couldn't stop the smile that twitched over his lips. Peter sat not too far away trying to hide the fact that he was rather obviously ogling over the bunch of fourth year girls sitting on the next couch over. At James look he blushed and stood up, hurrying over to them. Seeing the look on everyone's faces as he approached he slowed.

"Did I miss something?" he asked with a confused frown.

"Unfortunately" Lily said with an overly-dramatic sigh. James scowled again.

"Come on Peter" Remus said with a sigh as he looped his arm over his friends shoulder. "Let's go get some food." Sirius ruffled James hair as he looked darkly after them.

"Let it go Prongs." He gave Lily a look and she sighed.

"I was only joking Potter." James shrugged and slouched off. Sirius rolled his eyes and followed him. Lily sighed and sat back down.

"Boys" she muttered.

_Alright, so like I said, not my best work and I apologize for the stunted ending. I just couldn't think of anywhere to take it next. Please let me know what you think._


End file.
